Gabby Davis is the Lead Trainer for the US Division of the Customer Experience Team. She develops and implements processes and collaterals related to the client onboarding experience and guides clients across all tiers through the initial implementation of Engagedly as well as Mentoring Complete. She is passionate about delivering stellar client experiences and ensuring high adoption rates of the Engagedly product through engaging and impactful training and onboarding.
Thanks to the pandemic, there have been real shifts in how and where we work. For many, the time has come to work remotely full-time. While there are lots of people who have been very happy with the shift to remote working, there are others who find it more challenging.
It’s a big shift in the way they work and as such, they’ll struggle. Here’s how you can help that team member adjust to this way of working.
Understand What’s Impacting Their Work
The first thing to do is to understand what is making work difficult for your team member. The overall reason will most likely be that they are struggling to adapt to working remotely, but you need to zero in on what’s making it hard for them.
For example, it could be that childcare has fallen through and they’re trying to take care of their kids while working. They may not have a suitable workspace in their home and so they have to work in an environment that isn’t conducive to being productive.
There could be all kinds of reasons why your team member is suddenly not performing to their best standard. If you can narrow down exactly what it is that they’re struggling with, you can then start to help them.
Don’t Feel As Though You Can’t Reach Out
Many managers hesitate to reach out and help their team members in cases like these. “They feel as though they’re overstepping, as it could be a personal issue,” says Caroline Peters, a business writer with UKWritings. “In fact, it could well be an issue that you can help with.”
Remember, at the end of the day, your team member needs to be able to do their job to the best of their ability. You’re there to help them do that, so make sure you reach out and ask if anything is impeding them from getting the job done.
Remember That Remote Work Unveils A Lot Of Issues
When people first started working remotely during the pandemic, they quickly found that a lot of their work processes were not really made for the world of remote work. The new setup showed that certain processes were slow, or didn’t really work as well as they should have.
This is important to consider when you’re working with a team member who apparently isn’t performing well. Is it that they’re finding it harder to use certain systems? After all, they can’t simply walk over to their colleague’s desk and ask for help.
If you find that it’s an issue with a process that’s occurring, then you can work with that team member to address it, and potentially make changes to make it better for remote working.
Separate Emotion From Fact
“When handling a team member who is underperforming, you may need to remove any emotion from the process,” says Andy Harrison, a tech blogger at Ox Essays. “Emotions can get heightened when working remotely, and that’s not going to help when you try to get to the root of the issue.”
For example, if another team member has come to you, asking you to help as a certain team member isn’t fulfilling their duties, they may be irritated and frustrated. You want to ensure that you hear that frustration, but then remove the emotion so you just have the facts of the case. That will help you deal with it more effectively.
Consider Your Own Role
While there can be all sorts of things affecting your team member’s performance, remember that you may also have a part to play in the issues they’re having. That’s not something that’s pleasant for you to consider, but it is important that you consider it. After all, that’s good management.
For example, think about whether you’ve been clear enough in your expectations when directing this team member. Have you given them all the tools they may need to do their job? Sometimes you may not even know what it is that’s missing from the equation. You can ask the team member if there’s something they need from you, so they can do their job effectively.
If you feel a team member is struggling when working remotely, then you’ll be tempted to lower the bar for them so they can meet expectations. However, this isn’t going to help them or your business in the long run. It’s much better to find out what they’re struggling with first and then put measures in place to help them meet the bar that was already there.
The best place to do this is through video chat, as you’ll be able to read each others’ expressions. You can check in on the team member and ask them why they feel they’re struggling. It’s important you listen carefully to their answer, as that will help you put the right measures in place. For example, quick, in-person jobs may now have become a long string of emails or messages, making it harder to keep up. Now you know what’s wrong, you can start making changes.
Get The Team Member Involved
Since your team member has told you what’s causing issues with their remote work, it only makes sense that they help you solve it. When talking with them, ask them what they would change if they could. That shows that you trust them to be able to help improve the situation and help you find ways to put things right.
This will also give them the chance to ask for that help, without worrying about doing so. Often, they will be able to find just the right solution themselves, and get the work back up and running quickly.
If a team member isn’t performing as they should under remote work, you don’t need to panic. You can work with them to find the solution, and solve the issue quickly and easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is remote work?
Ans. Remote work is a working arrangement where employees need not go to the office and can work from any remote location.
Q2. What are the benefits of remote work?
Ans. Some of the benefits of remote work include:
Work/life balance
Cost saving
Freedom and flexibility
Health and happiness
Save time
Q3. What are the demerits of working from a remote location?
Ans. Some of the cons of working remotely include:
Lack of social interaction
Communciation gaps
Management challenges
More number of meetings
Distractions at workspace
This article is written by Jenny Han.
Jenny Han is a writer for Paper Writing Service. She covers the world of remote work.
The pandemic introduced remote work culture to all forms of businesses. Organizations that didn’t have the capability to go remote found it extremely hard to find a reliable solution.
Organizations migrating towards SaaS-based and cloud-based applications were obvious and ultimately the only solution.
A generous amount was spent to migrate and sustain. According toGartner, the total amount spent on cloud-based SaaS applications will be $171,915 this year.
But integrating SaaS apps is not an easy task. It involves a lot of repetitive tasks and that can increase the cost. That is when AI comes in. It can help you avoid repetitive tasks and save time and resources for more important tasks.
In this article, we will discuss different aspects of how AI can help you enhance remote work capabilities.
AI Operations
As discussed above, more and more companies are preferring SaaS and cloud-based solutions. Due to this, the intake of enterprise content has increased. This sudden increase in content consumption has led to an increase in demand for AI-based operations.
First, let us understand what AI-based operations are.
It is a multi-layer technology platform that enhances the capabilities of SaaS applications. Its functionalities take remote working to the next level. With the help of machine learning (ML) algorithms and analytics, it offers the best-in-class operational experience.
AI collects data from several resources of your organization and then deploys an ML algorithm to show real-time changes in your SaaS app. The analysis performed will be detailed and have all the different parameters.
AI operations operate on two components, namely ML and Big data. They would require more data other than records and logs. Moreover, it will also collect data from operational analytics, CRM tools, security systems, and more.
AI operations are so competent that they are able to detect any changes in the security of your system. So, this part is important when your employees are working from home and are accessing the system via an unsecured network.
Hence, apart from tracking changes in the data, it is a savior for a company in maintaining the confidential information of projects.
AI as a Software
If you use AI as the software, it can enable third-party integration as a SaaS application. For instance, you want to integrate some marketing solutions into your CRM application.
With AI algorithms, you can design custom APIs as per the vendor’s environment and seamlessly integrate SaaS-based CRM software.
Most organizations develop custom APIs for such integrations. But this way, you have to create a new API from scratch. However, AI can help you reuse scripts with minor changes for the new environment. This will reduce the development time of APIs.
There are frameworks that offer reusable scripts but they are not flexible to adjust to different environments and are highly opinionated. Also, remote integration would need enterprises to deploy APIs to cloud platforms and require smart functionalities along with thorough monitoring of assets.
AI as a software monitors tools and can help organizations track deployment remotely for different environments. AI would also help you overcome challenges while executing remote deployments.
Flexible Integrations
It is obvious that an organization would require several interactions for different functionalities like CRM, security, and communication. A lot of enterprises use Communication as a Service integration for calls, messages, and VOIP features.
In a similar way, there are other integrations that every enterprise-level app would need to enhance the user experience.
Deployment
Once organizations decide to go remote, they face challenges while deploying SaaS applications remotely. It is difficult to store the core service in local data centers for security reasons and uptime. But you can use a hybrid cloud approach to execute deployments. There is a challenge here too. Deployments require continuous streamlining of integrations and deliveries.
For example, you want a chatbot integrated into your SaaS application. For its deployments, you would require to configure trigger functions that activate storage, data processing, and analysis. Chatbots have AI as their core function. But still, you can use AI for deployment. It will create a deployment pipeline to streamline everything.
It is also capable enough to deliver content across platforms effectively along with creating and collaborating content remotely.
When you have a high number of resources working in your organization, you would require reliable solutions to deliver content on all platforms while ensuring the user experience is excellent. For example, the required images and videos in the content would require a reliable network or it will slow the loading time of the page.
You will require an efficient network to deliver the content on time. Organizations use Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to handle loading challenges and any performance glitches. AI-based CDN can help SaaS apps deliver content timely with a faster loading speed. It instantly enhances customer experience. It will use an auto-deployment pipeline that is triggered by ML algorithms. You would need a trigger function that can be customized as per your business needs.
Customization
Customization is the only key to making it compatible with all types of business requirements. You might have to customize trigger functions for your apps to elaborate your SaaS strategy. After strategizing all the AI integrations, the next would be to assess existing apps and define functions that require triggers.
For instance, let’s say you are building a SaaS app for marketing requirements. You will be required to define a trigger function like follow-up emails, auto-replies, etc. The advice from an expert would help you more in understanding and executing all the uses. You canhire remote developers who can help with the development of essential trigger functions.
Security
Security has always been a major concern for organizations. The risk further increases when all your employees are working from home. AI can help you mitigate the risk involved while using SaaS apps.
AI can match patterns and assess human factors, and ML can replicate hackers’ actions to figure out risks beforehand. Thus, companies can invest in AI-based cloud security services to identify abnormal behaviors. It works as a repellent to cybercrimes and saves companies from fear of fraud and threats.
Final Thoughts
SaaS or cloud-based application platforms are continuously evolving. There are a lot of beneficiary updates happening to keep up with the demand for remote-working employees. AI has made it easier and safer for both organizations and their employees. Organizations are able to offer all the services in a better way without impacting the customer experience while maintaining the secrecy of all the data.
Employees are able to work efficiently with SaaS and cloud-based apps from the comfort of their homes. If your organization requires any AI integrations on SaaS apps, you must hire remote developers who have expertise in this field. They will help you make your platform more secure without affecting the customer experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What are AI-based operations?
Ans. AI-based operations is a multi-layer technology platform that enhances the capabilities of SaaS applications.
Q2. What is the full form of SaaS?
Ans. Software as a service (SaaS) is a cloud-based method to provide software to users.
Q3. What happens when AI is used as software?
Ans. AI as a software monitors tools and can help organizations track deployment remotely for different environments. AI would also help you overcome challenges while executing remote deployments.
This article is written by Harikrishna Kundariya.
Harikrishna Kundariya is a marketer, developer, IoT, ChatBot & Blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder, and Director of eSparkBiz Technologies @Software Development Company. His 10+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and ChatBot.
The workplace is changing. With the rise of the digital age, more and more people are working remotely. And while this has its perks, it can also be isolating. One of the best ways to combat this isolation is to find a mentor. A mentor can help you with your career, give you advice, and be a sounding board for your ideas. But how do you find a mentor when you’re not in the same physical space? Here are five practical tips to help you find a mentor in a remote workplace.
1. Join an Online Community or Forum Related to Your Field
There are many online communities and forums related to various fields that can be useful for finding mentors. Joining one or more of these can help you connect with potential mentors who can offer advice and guidance on your career.
When looking for a community or forum to join, try to find one that is specific to your field or area of interest. This will help you ensure that the advice and guidance you receive are relevant to your career goals. Additionally, try to find a community or forum that is active and has a large number of members. This will give you a greater chance of finding a mentor who is a good fit for you.
Once you have joined a community or forum, take some time to introduce yourself and get to know the other members. Participate in discussions and ask questions when you need advice. When you build up a rapport with other members, you may be able to request mentorship from someone who you trust and respect.
2. Attend Online Events and Webinars
If you’re looking for a mentor in a remote workplace, one of the best things you can do is attend online events and webinars. This will allow you to hear from experienced professionals in your field, and learn about the challenges and successes they’ve had in their careers.
There are many great online events and webinars to choose from, so it’s important to find ones that are relevant to your interests and career goals. Once you’ve found a few that look promising, make sure to register early and participate actively during the event. Ask questions, take notes, and follow up with the speakers afterward to continue the conversation.
By attending online events and webinars, you’ll not only gain valuable insights from mentors in your field but also make valuable connections that could lead to future opportunities. So don’t miss out – start searching for upcoming events today!
3. Use Social Media
The best way to find a mentor is to use social media. Many online platforms can help you connect with potential mentors, such as LinkedIn and Twitter. If you are a subject matter expert, you can also create and edit videos and publish them on YouTube. This is one way of connecting with fellow SMEs. Once you’ve found a few people who seem like they could be good mentors, reach out to them and start a conversation.
When you’re talking to someone who could be a mentor, be sure to let them know what you’re looking for in a mentorship relationship. Be specific about what kinds of advice and guidance you need. Mentors are more likely to be willing to help if they know exactly what you want from them.
Finally, don’t forget to follow up after your initial conversations with potential mentors. Keep the lines of communication open so you can continue building your relationship and getting the most out of your mentorship.
4. Connect With People you Know
One of the best ways to find a mentor is to connect with people you know. Utilize your professional and personal networks to reach out to potential mentors.
When reaching out to potential mentors, be specific about what you are looking for and what you hope to gain from the relationship. Be sure to also express your willingness to contribute to the mentorship relationship, and be open to meeting virtually or in person if possible.
Once you’ve connected with some potential mentors, it’s important to start building a relationship with them. Get to know them by asking about their work experiences and career advice. If they’re willing to mentor you, be sure to follow up regularly and show your appreciation for their time and guidance. A mentorship relationship can be extremely beneficial, so treat it with care and respect.
5. Read Blogs and Articles Written by Thought Leaders in Your Industry
There are several different ways that you can find blogs and articles written by thought leaders in your industry. One way is to use a search engine such as Google and type in your industry + ‘thought leader’ or ‘blog’. This should give you a good list of sources.
Another way to find thought leaders in your industry is to look at the by-lines in magazines or online publications that you read regularly. If there is someone whose writing you admire, chances are they have a blog or website where you can read more of their work.
Once you have a list of potential sources, take some time to read through their content and see if their perspective aligns with your own. If it does, then they may be a good mentor for you. If not, keep looking until you find someone you feel confident in following.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to finding a mentor in a remote workplace, sometimes the best option is simply to ask around. If you’re looking for someone who can share their experience and advice with you, there’s no better way to find that person than to reach out to your fellow professionals and ask for help. Keep these five practical tips in mind when seeking mentorship and you’ll be successful in finding the perfect role model for your career path.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is the role of a mentor?
Ans. A mentor is someone who shares his or her experience and knowledge and provides guidance and support for the growth and development of the mentee.
Q2. What are the 3 types of mentoring?
Ans. The three types of mentoring are:
Traditional one-on-one mentoring
Distance mentoring
Group mentoring
Q3. What are the four pillars of mentoring?
Ans. The four pillars of mentoring are respect, expectation, trust, and communication.
This article is written by Maira Xandros.
Maira is a freelance writer who works with creative brands and B2B companies to support their content writing efforts and SEO strategy, and has writing expertise in digital marketing and branding. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.
In such a scenario, how can leaders and managers help their employees amp up their productivity?
From small-scale setups to global companies, every organization is struggling to find a way to turn the odds of hybrid work in their favor. But only a handful of organizations are reaping its benefits.
This guide will explore the intricacies of employee productivity in a hybrid workplace and will discuss the following:
Employee productivity is defined in multiple ways. Some leaders call it an assessment of the amount of work produced by an employee during a specific time period. And some define it as the assessment of the efficiency and value of output generated by their employees. Depending upon the industry, employee productivity can be classified into different types.
Wendy Makinson from Joloda Hydraroll is of the view that employee productivity in the new era of work employee productivity can no longer be judged by the number of hours worked or completed tasks. Instead, it must be measured by the employee’s ability to achieve results aligned with the company’s goals.
In the words of Claudia Gancayco, Chief Marketing Officer at Leg Master, employee productivity In this new era of work is defined by how well employees are able to adapt to their work surroundings and produce quality output at the expected time. With tools and processes constantly evolving today, it is also defined by how well they are able to assess their tasks and find the most efficient way to go about them.
Whatever definition you choose, employee productivity has a direct impact on the success of a business. It leads to the achievement of both short-term and long-term organizational goals.
A highly productive workforce is the goal of every organization. It helps companies innovate and produce distinguished results. Furthermore, organizations with an effective and efficient workforce are able to create a stronghold in a market.
The recent transition of businesses towards a hybrid setup has led global HR leaders to redefine and reassess their employee productivity practices and metrics. They are now heavily relying on employee productivity tools to evaluate, measure, and align the efforts of their hybrid workforce toward the achievement of goals.
The below image highlights the change in the use of digital workplace technology since the onset of the pandemic. 80% of workers now use some sort of digital technology to enhance their efficiency and productivity.
Before we jump into details regarding employee productivity, let’s debunk some myths about it.
Myths About Employee Productivity
Employee productivity is generally considered an economic indicator of an organization. The more productive the workforce, the more successful the organization will be.
While the concept holds true to its roots, the lure of success has led organizations and leaders to believe some myths about productivity that do not hold true in the light of organizational psychology and research.
Some of these myths have been around for quite a while and are now being frowned upon by employees and employers alike.
Associating Long Hours of Work with Higher Productivity and Better Outcomes
Research conducted by John Pencavel, a professor at Stanford University, has shown that an employee clocking in more than 50 hours a week will show a sharp decline in productivity with every added hour.
Furthermore, employees who manage to put in up to 70 hours are producing the same amount of work as done by a person working for 55 hours.
Clearly, putting more hours into your work is a no brainer. In fact, research shows the optimum number of hours to be 48, after which productivity will fall. Further to that, the trialing of 4-day workweeks is proving successful in some regions.
Anthony Martin, Founder and CEO, Choice Mutual has a better strategy. As per him, using a shorter work week can help employees feel refreshed and more productive. Mandatory breaks are also essential to enable employees for work challenges. You will get much more out of your employees if you recognize that people only have so much brainpower to use every day, and by making sure they are well rested, you will see higher motivation and productivity.
Multitaskers Are More Productive
While juggling between multiple projects and tasks might sound interesting, research shows that it is counterproductive. Multitasking leads to marginal results and even reduces the efficiency of employees.
Research conducted by psychologists has shown that the human brain is not wired for multitasking. Additionally, constantly switching tasks can lead to mental fatigue and less productivity over time.
With such research in perspective, we definitely need to strike off the multitasking requirements from the job descriptions.
Big Incentives Make Employees More Productive
The psychology that employee motivation and productivity can be altered with big incentives does not seem to hold true in today’s business environment. While there is a sudden increase in productivity with incentives, it generally falls back to the same level after some time.
In some cases, incentives have even backfired, leading employees to follow unethical practices to grab the extra money.
On the other hand, regular, structured, and well-managed incentive programs have shown promising results.
As Abe Breuer, CEO, VIP To Go puts it. It’s a myth to say that large incentives boost employee productivity. While raising salaries can drive people to accomplish much work over a particular period, it’s not sustainable. After some time, they might feel exhausted, pressured, or worse, burned out. What rather works are small, more frequent rewards. You can regularly offer extra time off when reaching milestones, a “thank you” note, or a public acknowledgment of their successful endeavors. Doing so provides validation which results in healthier employee productivity.
Remote or Hybrid Work Makes Employees Less Productive
Remote workers’ productivity was a major concern for employers when the whole world instantly switched from an onsite to a remote work setup.
Many leaders and managers have resorted to micromanagement because of their concerns over employees’ productivity in the hybrid model. While the intent behind it can be good, the results can be devastating for both employees and organizations.
In the current setup, employees need a decentralized and trustworthy environment to prosper and do well in their jobs. Keeping micromanagement out of the office can actually harbinger better results for organizations.
Important Facts About Employee Productivity
Employee productivity is a result of multiple organizational factors. When the cumulative effort of these factors results in a positive, productive, and employee-centered environment, employee productivity increases.
Along with these factors, there are some hard facts that are important to understand while looking into employee productivity.
Unproductive meetings kill your employees’ productivity along with $37 billion annually
Long commutes to work hamper innovation, decision-making, and productivity at work. It affects the physical and mental health of employees, leading to frustration and lower performance
Employee mental health has a direct correlation with productivity at work. Unresolved mental issues can lead to a 35% reduction in production and a loss of $210.5 billion annually
Employee Productivity Monitoring: How to Measure Employee Productivity in a Hybrid Setup
The way of working has significantly changed in the last two years. Employees now prefer hybrid setups over full-time onsite work. They want a balance between having the flexibility to work from the place of their convenience and also having in-office social interactions and mentoring sessions with peers and leaders.
Indeed, the dual benefits of workplace flexibility and in-office interactions have led to a rise in demand for hybrid work, but employers need to ensure that their workforce remains as productive as it was before the pandemic.
Measuring employee productivity has become much more difficult in a hybrid or remote workplace than it was in the pre-pandemic world. Factors such as disengagement, burnout, employee mental and physical wellness, and isolation have to be looked into while creating business strategies.
The employee productivity metrics used in the pre-pandemic phase have to be tweaked to align them with the hybrid setup. That’s why using hybrid productivity metrics is the need of the hour. These metrics take virtual and in-office collaboration, feedback, check-ins, and employee engagement into consideration while providing insights.
Before you start measuring employee productivity, it is important to understand the following:
What do you want to measure?
Understanding what to measure is the first step in calculating employee productivity. Is it the number of goods created, leads generated, sales closed, tickets resolved, or tasks completed? Keeping specific items in focus will help zero in on the metrics to use for measurement.
How to measure?
Once you have decided on the tasks or activities to be looked into, the next step is to understand the metrics that will help measure productivity.
The following list of hybrid productivity tools can be used based on your requirements.
360-Degree Feedback Survey
A multi-rater feedback is a highly effective and efficient way to determine the productivity of an employee.
Taking feedback from multiple reviewers, such as managers, direct reports, peers, prospects, clients, and vendors, ensures that the feedback is free from any bias and provides a holistic view of an employee’s performance.
Furthermore, it helps identify an employee’s strengths, skills, and areas of development and provides a direct comparison between the employee self-evaluation and the reviewers’ insights.
Using this qualitative technique can help leaders identify any blindspots in the hybrid setup and analyze the overall workforce productivity.
Objectives and Key Results
OKRs are one of the best methods of measuring employee productivity against the achievement of set objectives. By offering an actionable and time-bound goal-setting and measuring framework, OKRs help in aligning employees’ goals and efforts towards organizational objectives.
Additionally, it increases employee accountability and helps them stay focused on their tasks. The method is equally effective for in-office, remote, or hybrid employees.
Planned-to-Done Ratio
Planned-to-done ratio measures the number of tasks delivered by team members against the planned activities.
In an agile framework, it is important to gauge the capabilities and capacity of every team member. It helps in understanding the delivery output of a team on a particular project. That’s where the planned-to-done ratio becomes instrumental.
Using this method helps managers evaluate their hybrid or remote team’s overall output along with individual productivity.
Engagement Surveys
It is a fact that engaged employees are more productive and generate better outcomes than their disengaged counterparts.
Measuring employee engagement is thus an important step in gauging workforce productivity. Use engagement surveys to get the pulse of your workforce and identify the specific areas that are leading to disengagement and lower productivity.
Cycle Time
Breaking down a project into bite-size tasks with a two weeks process cycle can help measure and even boost the productivity of employees.
The reiterative cycles provide an opportunity to optimize the processes and push team members to complete their tasks on time. Additionally, cycle time helps in identifying employees who deliver quality work on a short deadline and those who need guidance and support.
How to Boost Employee Productivity in a Changing Global Workplace
The global workplace is evolving. The new working models pose both opportunities and challenges to leaders.
While most organizations favor hybrid work to provide the best of both worlds to their employees—workplace flexibility and in-office collaboration—they are also worried about maintaining workforce productivity in these unprecedented times.
With improvements in employee productivity levels as per the PwC report, employers are anticipating the trend to continue. But for that to happen, they need to understand the dynamics of employee productivity in a hybrid work environment.
As 7 in every 10 employees prefer to work either remotely or hybrid, it is important to understand the fundamentals of productivity when developing the framework of a hybrid workplace.
Factors That Affect Employee Productivity in a Hybrid Workplace
The following factors need to be considered while building a dynamic and productive workforce.
The transition to a hybrid environment comes with a slew of challenges, and leaders have to be prepared to cultivate them into opportunities.
Even though the studies show a net positive effect of hybrid setup on overall employee experience, it is imperative to contemplate on individual factors that cultivate into a productive and progressive work environment.
Working on these items can gradually lead to creating a resilient, determined, engaged, and productive workforce.
Employee Well-being
The Deloitte Human Capital Trends Survey 2020 reported that 80% of global leaders identify employee well-being as their top business priority. Yet only 12% of them are working to address it.
Not just that, healthy employees are happier and are willing to go the extra mile for organizational success.
Burgeoning workplace mental and physical health issues cost around $1 trillion to the global economy. And the fact is, it is surging.
It is high time that organizations commit to employee well-being, not just for higher productivity and ROI, but for a happy and healthy workforce.
Inclusivity
Inclusivity is a prime determinant of higher productivity in a hybrid workplace. The more included your employees feel, the more engaged they are and the better they perform.
But creating an inclusive hybrid workplace isn’t an easy job. Even though hybrid work offers a great opportunity to hire diverse talent, offering accessibility and inclusivity is a big challenge. Especially for leaders who have never worked in an inclusive environment, it is difficult to address the problems of a diverse workforce.
Leaders can take the following steps to make inclusivity the core foundation of their organization.
Don’t be rigid in your definition of flexibility. What works for you might not work for others
Meet your remote employees frequently and recognize them for their contributions
Conduct surveys to understand the concerns of your hybrid teams
Train managers to be fair, unbiased, honest, empathetic, and inclusive
Use collaborative tools for better communication among hybrid and remote teams
A survey by Catalyst found that empathetic leadership drives innovation, engagement, and productivity in the organization. Furthermore, the study revealed that empathy helps organizations sail through crises more effectively.
Image Source: catalyst.org
Employees are now more interested in working with leaders that understand their feelings and support them in their professional and personal lives. Empathetic leaders are more receptive to their employees’ concerns and try to establish strong bonds with them.
Empathetic leaders and managers are able to foster deep connections in the organization by showing genuine concern and curiosity in their employees’ lives.
How Does Technology Support Hybrid Workplace Productivity?
It was technology that helped organizations suddenly transition to remote setups in 2020. In fact, it reshaped itself to turn the pandemic-led challenges into opportunities. Organizations that leveraged technology through innovative solutions and tools stayed afloat and churned the best out of their employees.
In a hybrid model, technology is the lifeline of an organization. It aids in knowledge sharing, communication, and collaboration and supports teams by maintaining high levels of productivity even while working from different geographical locations.
Furthermore, technology provides access to employees by reducing the gap between employees working from home and the office. It gives managers real-time insights into their team’s performance and helps leaders make data-driven decisions.
Conclusion
Human capital is the most crucial, versatile, and dynamic organizational resource. It has the potential to make or break an organization. That’s why maintaining high levels of productivity is important for organizations to prosper. Understanding the needs and expectations of employees and aligning the business strategies towards them can help you leverage the full potential of your workforce and successfully steer through changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What does employee productivity mean?
Ans. Employee productivity, also known as workforce productivity, is usually defined as the efficiency of workers or a group of workers in producing a specific outcome or result. Based on the type of industry and work, employee productivity definitions may vary.
Q2. How do you determine employee productivity?
Ans. Determining employee productivity in a hybrid workplace is quite important to businesses. You can use the following methods to determine workforce productivity:
360-Degree Feedback Survey
Objectives and Key Results
Planned-to-Done Ratio
Engagement Surveys
Cycle Time
Every method has its own pros and cons and it is best to understand these concepts in detail before implementing them in the organization.
Q3. How to increase employee productivity in a workplace.
Ans. The following methods have been found to be useful in boosting employee productivity in the workplace:
The COVID-19 pandemic had an astronomical impact on the workforce.
From layoffs and furloughs in 2020, hiring sprees in 2021, and high inflation rates in 2022, it’s challenging to determine what the headwinds and opportunities will look like in 2024.
However, if there is one silver lining to the pandemic that holds true across most industries, it’s that remote work is possible.
To add a cherry on top, many studies prove that a remote workforce reduces overhead costs, increases productivity levels, reduces employee turnover, and improves work-life balance.
What’s not to like? Although we don’t have a crystal ball that’ll tell us what 2024 has in store, it’s safe to say that a remote workforce has a strong foothold for continued success.
Trends in the Remote Workforce
Deloitte’s 2021 Global Human Capital Trends report shows that the workforce after COVID-19 has seen a ‘fundamental mindset shift: from a focus on surviving to the pursuit of thriving.’
The demand for remote work remains strong. It’s no longer just for the self-employed. Remote will be a large part of the future workforce, no matter what business you are in or where you are located.
Studies show that more than 80% of on-site workers are interested in working remotely. As younger generations enter the workforce, businesses should adopt a remote or hybrid workforce to capture a piece of that pie.
6 Ways to Prepare for a Remote Workforce in 2024
Although remote work is here to stay, it’s still a careful balancing act to ensure optimal productivity, employee engagement, and top talent.
Thankfully, a little planning goes a long way.
Let’s dive into a few ways to prepare your organization for a remote workforce in 2024.
1. Leverage Digital Collaboration Platforms
The success of your remote workforce comes down to communication and collaboration. Without investing in the proper digital tools, it’s nearly impossible for your team to collaborate and maintain high levels of productivity.
So the most important thing you can do is to provide a good user experience from day one. Your digital collaboration platforms should be intuitive and easy to use so that your team members can easily access them on their devices.
These tools are required for real-time communication — whether via video or text chat — so that you don’t lag between sending an email and getting responses from team members in different time zones across the world.
The best project management software has features that make it easy for people to work on different projects, share documents, and simultaneously collaborate on tasks.
In 2024, social media will be even more popular than it is today. Your marketing team needs a social media tool to communicate with your customers and understand their wants and needs.
Never underestimate the power of good communication.
2. Avoid Zoom Fatigue
Zoom is a great tool for remote meetings and presentations, but it can be hard to use for months on end.
Attending Zoom meetings all day can leave your team feeling fatigued. The intense close-up eye contact and increased cognitive load are no joke.
There are several reasons Zoom fatigue sets in so quickly:
There’s more eye-to-eye contact than in a typical conversation
Background noise can be distracting (especially if there are multiple speakers)
People may have trouble hearing or understanding each other
The application doesn’t allow for much collaboration or real-time note-taking
If you find that the first half of your meeting involves everyone checking their phones or fiddling around with their laptops (or even having their camera off altogether), it’s time to consider other meeting alternatives.
Don’t forget that some meetings are better off as a simple email or a screen-recorded video.
Encourage your team to turn off their self-view cameras, keep your meetings short and sweet, and give your team breaks from the constant demand for Zoom meetings.
3. Invest in a Learning and Development Program
A learning and development program is one of the best ways to ensure that your employees are equipped with the skills needed to do their jobs.
And career development is in high demand. Research shows that almost 90% of millennials believe professional growth and career development are important factors when choosing an employer.
Learning and development programs are great ways to help employees reach their full potential. And there’s an overwhelming amount of studies that show employees want to get better at their jobs and gain new skills.
Most workers want to learn but need the opportunity to do so. If you don’t provide that opportunity, your business will lose out on talented employees, and your competitors may win them away.
Union popularity is rising, with 7 out of 10 workers stating they’d consider joining a union if given a chance.
The main reasons workers choose to join a union include:
Increase pay
Improved benefits
Job protection
Show your employees that you care about them and avoid the risk of unionization by offering a competitive benefits package. These benefits can include your typical ‘must haves’ like health insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) match.
Or you can think outside the box and offer employees the opportunity to have more control over their schedules. Workers with flexible schedules can choose when and where to work, instead of having to work a set number of hours per day.
You may also want to consider offering a stipend for internet and equipment so remote workers can establish a comfortable and reliable work-from-home setup.
Another popular benefit is providing a gym membership, which can help employees stay healthy while working from home online. Or, if any of your employees have children (or plan on starting a family), consider providing childcare reimbursement and other benefits like life insurance.
As different generations are at various stages in their lives, it makes sense that they tend to value different types of employee benefits. For instance, younger employees could be interested in benefits like mental health benefits or entertainment such as console or PC games, while the older generation might be more interested in parental leaves and retirement plans. The goal is for every generation to feel secure about your organization meeting their needs.
But one thing is for sure. All employees, regardless of age, prioritize flexible working hours and paid time off at the top of their benefits list.
And thankfully, these benefits typically don’t break the bank.
5. Outsource Tedious Tasks
In remote organizations, it is becoming more and more common to outsource tedious tasks. And this trend will likely continue for years to come.
For example, companies are hiring contractors or freelancers to work on a project basis, be it customer service agents, web developers, or virtual medical assistants.
Regardless of the task at hand, outsourcing is a great way to save money, free up your employees’ time, and keep your top talent.
Here are some additional benefits of outsourcing:
Avoid paying benefits, taxes, and other associated costs required for full-time employees.
Find someone who is an expert at what they do so you don’t have to spend time training them.
Give your employees more time to work on their core tasks and learn new skills.
Reduce overall stress levels on your team and improve employee morale with more helping hands.
6. Build an Employee-centric Culture
In the future, it’ll be even more important to focus on the people side of your business. While technology will continue to improve and make remote collaboration easier, not every person wants to work remotely all the time.
So here’s a tip: create a people-centric culture that celebrates your employees as much as it does their work. No matter how brilliant your product or service is, if you don’t have great people working for you, you’ll find it difficult to sustain long-term business growth.
The point is that by creating an environment where employees feel supported and connected, you’ll help them feel valued, which will help keep people around longer and attract top talent from around the world.
The remote workforce has changed drastically over the last decade and shows no signs of slowing down.
As new generations enter the workforce, they want more flexibility and access to experts who can help them reach their career goals.
We’ve also seen how important it is for businesses to adapt by offering more flexible working arrangements and collaborative teams that foster trust among colleagues online.
Don’t underestimate the investment in your people. Your people are your greatest assets. And with the proper time and dedication, building a robust remote workforce will pay off tenfold in 2024 and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How to successfully manage a remote workforce?
Ans. Some of the ways to successfully manage a remote workforce are:
Treat employees as individuals
Communicate and collaborate
Trust your remote team members
Q2. What are the advantages of remote work?
Ans. Some of the advantages of remote work for:
Employers
Less expense
Increased productivity
Less turnover
Employees
No commute
Autonomy increases
Employees are healthier
Q3. What are the tools necessary for a remote workforce?
Ans. The remote workforce requires various tools such as Slack, GoogleMeet, Asana, Basecamp, Google Drive, Hangouts, and Zoom for communication, project management, and collaboration.
If you’re like most recruiters, you’ve wanted to hire remote employees. After all, remote hiring has tons of benefits – including increased efficiency and cost savings. But before you make the jump to remote hiring, there are some things you need to know about remote hiring. Let’s discuss 17 pitfalls of remote hiring that you must avoid if you want to ensure your remote hire is successful!
1. Not having a clear job description
One of the most important things you can do when you hire remote employees is to have a clear job description. This way, candidates know exactly what they’re applying for and the expectations.
Without a clear job description, you’re likely to end up with candidates who are either unqualified or not a good fit for the position.
2. Failing to screen candidates while remote hiring
When you hire remote employees, it’s important to screen candidates thoroughly. This means taking the time to interview each candidate and ask the tough questions. Quite often, companies make the mistake of hiring someone without thoroughly screening them first, and it ends up costing the company in the long run.
3. Ignoring red flags
When you hire remote workers, it’s essential to trust your gut. If you see red flags, don’t ignore them. For example, if a candidate seems evasive or cannot answer your questions, it’s probably best to move on. These could be warning signs that the candidate is not a good fit for the position – and if you ignore them, you could regret it later.
4. Hiring someone who isn’t a good fit
Just because someone is qualified for the job doesn’t mean they’re a good fit. When you hire remote employees, it’s essential to consider whether or not the candidate would be a good fit for the company culture.
It’s essential to communicate your expectations to a remote hire. This means setting clear goals and deadlines and providing feedback regularly. Without clear communication, your remote hire will likely become frustrated and may even quit.
6. Not providing adequate training
When working with a remote hire, it’s crucial to ensure that you provide adequate training. For example, if you’re hiring for a marketing team, your remote hire should be educated about the different marketing assets, cross-functional teams and stakeholders within the company so that they will be able to hit the ground running. Teams that are adequately trained and onboarded are more likely to succeed, so it’s worth the extra effort.
7. Not investing in tools and resources
You must ensure that your remote hire needs access to the right tools and resources to succeed. Without these things, they’ll likely struggle to do their job – which could, in turn, cost your business time and money. So, before hiring remotely, ensure your remote hire has the tools and resources needed for support.
8. Not having a proper system in place for tracking progress
It’s essential to have a proper system to track progress when working with a remote hire. This way, you can ensure that everyone is on track and meeting deadlines. Without a system in place, it’s easy for things to fall through the cracks – which could cost your business dearly.
9. Failing to build relationships
When working with a remote hire, building relationships is of utmost importance. This way, you can create a sense of camaraderie and trust.
10. Not providing incentives
To keep your remote hire motivated, it’s essential to provide incentives. This could be bonuses, paid time off, or even just recognition for a job well done. Without incentives, your remote hire will likely become bored and may even start looking for other opportunities.
11. Not having a backup plan
When working with a remote hire, it’s crucial to have a backup plan. If one of your remote hires quits or cannot work, you won’t be left in the lurch. Without a backup plan, you may find yourself scrambling to find a replacement – which could cost your business time and money.
12. Not being available
You must be available for questions, concerns, and feedback when working with a remote hire. Otherwise, they are likely to become frustrated.
13. Failing to establish communication protocols
Establishing communication protocols to ensure that your remote team is effective is essential. This way, everyone knows how and when to communicate with each other. Without communication protocols, it’s easy for things to get lost in translation – which could cost your business dearly. Don’t rely only on email because email can be easily misinterpreted and may even get lost in the shuffle.
Instead, it’s essential to use a communication tool everyone is comfortable with – such as Slack or Zoom.
14. Lack of quality control measures
It’s also essential to have quality control measures in place. This way, you can ensure that the work is up to your standards. Without quality control measures, you’re likely to end up with subpar work – which could cost your business dearly.
15. Hiring too many employees at once
While hiring many remote employees at once may be tempting, it’s important to resist the urge. This is because onboarding and training a large group of people can be overwhelming – and may even lead to mistakes. Instead, slowly building your team one person at a time is best.
16. Failing to trust your team
One of the frequent mistakes businesses make when working with a remote hire is failing to trust them. This is a huge mistake, as it will only lead to tension and mistrust on both sides. If you want your remote hire to succeed, you need to trust them to do their job – otherwise, you’ll likely regret it later.
17. Poor management of remote staff
One of the most important – but often overlooked – aspects of remote work is the proper management of remote staff. Without proper management, your remote hire will likely become bogged down and may even start looking for other opportunities. So, if you’re hiring remotely, make sure you have a plan for managing your remote hire.
Hiring remotely can be an excellent way to build a successful team – but only if you avoid these common pitfalls. By taking the time to plan and prepare, you can set your team up for success from the start. So, if you’re thinking about hiring remotely, make sure you keep these tips in mind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do I make my remote work successful?
Ans. Five mantras to follow to become successful at working remote:
Create a peaceful and comfortable work zone (A mini home office, perhaps!)
Avoid and ignore distractions
Utilize savvy task management tools
Keep in touch with your team (Collaboration is the key!)
Do not forget to have a harmonious work-life balance!
Q2. How do you ensure that your remote employees work?
Ans. Four major tips to ensure that the remote workers are productive and working:
Productivity reports and analysis should be 100% data backed (Focus should be on results and not on work hours)
There should be clear and concise goals and timelines set for employees (Ambiguity do not beget results)
Employees should receive acknowledgement, rewards, and incentives for their hard work
Task management tools and software can come in handy for monitoring progress
This article is written by Amrapali Rai.
Amrapali is a freelance SEO strategist and content writer who works with brands and SaaS companies to support their SEO and content strategy and blogs about technology and marketing at Bazaar Expert.
Since the Great Resignation, many employees have left jobs that no longer serve their needs or value their effort. One commonality of these inefficient workplaces is poor internal communication, causing confusion, frustration, and stress. When management crosses lines or expectations aren’t properly managed, things get muddied. It can become expensive and exhausting to lose workers to poor communication, so it’s important to consider some easy improvements.
Providing a workspace that communicates effectively and listens to its staff can take a bit of work. Thankfully, this process can be made easier through just a few changes to your business’s dynamic.
Utilize Specific Communication Methods
Between all of the apps and software available these days for communication, it’s simple to find one that works best for your company. Some popular choices include Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord. However, you don’t want to throw too many options at your staff.
One method will help streamline communication and ensure that nothing becomes lost in translation. Plus, it allows staff to refer back to messages, send media, and even create more informal channels, such as staff wins and pet photos, to build camaraderie.
With a constant influx of emails, it can be difficult to sort through them and respond to everything efficiently.
However, part of managing your inbox is ensuring communication doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Set aside time each day for emails, especially on projects or answers that require a swift reply. Set reminders for anything that can wait a day or two, and ensure any emails you send have all the information included so that nothing confuses your co-workers.
Pay Attention and Listen
Part of effective communication is active listening.
It can be quite defeating for staff to feel like their problems aren’t being heard or recognized, or their ideas aren’t valued. Pay attention to what people say and what isn’t being said, such as their body language during meetings and discussions. Create opportunities to listen to feedback, both positive and negative. Perhaps add an anonymous suggestion box or schedule a forum where everyone can share their ideas.
Provide Helpful Communication Resources
Apart from communication apps, having project management tools can also build a bridge of contact. These are useful in keeping track of projects, deadlines, and other pertinent information. Instead of employees having to chase down their co-workers to get updates, project management tools help to have a streamlined platform to detail new and old assignments alike.
You can also use them to send reminders, upload important media, and track working time on a specific task, all in one place.
Plan Meetings for Essential Business
For some, meetings can feel like a waste of time, especially when they don’t have to attend or you could easily convey the information via email. However, knowing you need to cover and collaborate on through a meeting is vital since you don’t want your employees to lose precious working time.
Decide which correspondence needs to be handled face-to-face in a meeting, such as discussing a new project that involves all hands on deck. Otherwise, save your staff a busy day of meetings so they can focus on other business.
Give Clear Expectations
Whether it’s for a certain role or task, giving clear expectations can help internally. It can be frustrating for employees to feel stumped on management expectations, work on the wrong things, or have to ask a supervisor what their role is constantly. Instead, set distinct goals and intentions from the get-go and have it written somewhere for future reference. This documentation will also let them feel open in communicating any potential questions or issues since you have established rapport, and they know to rely on you for precise instruction.
Many bosses and supervisors have an open-door policy that allows staff to feel comfortable approaching them with anything. These discussions can include work concerns or even personal matters causing issues. This type of trust and understanding lets employees feel respected and provides managers insight into their staff’s day-to-day. This trust can be crucial for a business to run smoothly while maintaining a positive internal communication environment.
Encourage Participation and Conversation
In grade school or college, certain activities may have involved participation points. Encourage participation by your employees through various methods. Engaged staff tends to perform better, so providing performance-based feedback, open discussions, and ways to earn perks will help build on your internal workplace communications.
Build on Relationships
One way to build on existing relationships is through team building. Slack channels where you can share memes and other casual correspondence are nice, but what about ways to strengthen those bonds?
Employees who trust their co-workers will be more likely to communicate openly, so planning a small retreat or after-work event can help. If you’re a remote-based business, plan a day for some activities via Zoom or Skype that teams can participate in, such as puzzles or virtual escape rooms.
Sharing with your employees the latest goings-on and happenings is important. Are there any updates they need? What about positive outcomes from recent projects?
Hosting periodic check-ins, whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, can be a consistent gathering to fill everyone in. These check-ins don’t have to be overly formal or take up much of the work day.
A weekly email can help loop everyone in on announcements, upcoming events, or other information to provide open communication.
Conclusion
There are many ways to improve internal communication at your workplace, and while you may not need to overhaul your current methods entirely, you should at least consider the above list on where to start. Technology is one area that can certainly help, between communication apps, project management tools, and performance management.
Other practices involve active listening, open communication policies, and relationship building. So how will you use these to focus on enhancing your company’s communication?
All of us have passed a personality test at least once. We want to know which career path to choose, why we behave in one way or another, or what skills will help us in the future.
For example, is it reasonable to stay in a stressful environment when you better work with numbers and databases, not with people? That’s why personality tests exist. They illustrate where you’re the most productive and what makes you, you.
Knowing your predispositions isn’t just useful for you to know when applying for a job. It’s also helpful for recruiters and companies (when they hire Magento developers, designers, copywriters, office managers, etc.). Will the candidate perform well in a leadership role? Are they team players or individualists?
Figure out everything right from the start. It will help you predict whether the person fits the company. If not, there is a high chance they’ll quit at the first opportunity, even if they don’t plan it now.
So, if you want to not just “close” the position but find the most appropriate person, this article is for you. It outlines some of the most popular personality tests to gather your dream team.
Is it Necessary to Include Personality Tests in the Recruiting Process?
When hiring someone, you analyze various criteria such as education, experience, and skills. You might ask questions about candidates’ habits and personal traits during the interview.
But a 40-minute job interview doesn’t give a complete understanding of a person. Some may be nervous to respond adequately; others may be overwhelmed and act too fidgety.
That’s when personality tests come in handy. They provide more unbiased information on the candidates’ characteristics and can reduce employee turnover. For instance, revealing that a person is focused and calm may make them more likely to succeed in bookkeeping than in sales.
However, tests differ in terms of effectiveness and preciseness. Therefore, you need to carefully choose the test to diagnose the needed qualities to build a productive team.
Personality tests are more widespread among Fortune 100 companies. To be exact, about 80% of them utilize MBTI tests (Myers-Briggs type indicator) to ensure efficient teamwork. Unfortunately, only 13% of all American employers rely on personality tests. But those numbers will rise as smaller companies follow the lead of the largest corporations.
3 Personality Tests to Find Perfect Candidates for Team Roles
1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test evaluates people’s preferences based on Jung’s ideas of psychological types.
Isabel Myers and her mother, Katherine Briggs, took Carl Jung’s theory and developed this test for women. By creating this assessment, they hoped to make people’s lives happier and healthier.
People are classified into one of 16 personality types after taking the test. Note that they’re equal and don’t imply any weaknesses or abnormalities.
This testing allows you to understand the personality better and fulfill the potential. As a result, you can bring maximum value with your work rather than taking an unsuitable role and ignoring your true capabilities.
The questionnaire considers four scales:
Extraversion (E) – Introversion (I), meaning how much social interaction people need and whether they derive strength from communication or from being alone;
Sensing (S) – Intuition (N), showing how people gather information. They may focus on facts (sensing) or prefer intuition;
Thinking (T) – Feeling (F), illustrating how people make decisions. If thinking dominates feeling, people will rely on objective data rather than emotions;
Judging (J) – Perceiving (P), denoting how adaptable people are. The more people rely on judging, the less flexible they will be.
The Myers & Briggs Foundation states that this test is reliable and legitimate. However, the respondents’ results differ when passing the test a second time in about 40% and 75% of cases, so you can’t fully rely on them.
16Personalities provides a free test and analysis of each personality type (including workplace habits).
2. DiSC
Another personality profile test is DiSC. This technique appeared in the 20th century, thanks to psychologist William Moulton Marston. DiSC is an abbreviation standing for four main traits:
Dominance (D)
People with a high “D” score are decisive and result-oriented rather than process-oriented. Such people prefer fast movement, risk-taking, and getting what they want immediately. Their strengths are the ability to take responsibility, control the situation, and keep power in their hands. On the other hand, they can be impolite, inflexible, and act without reaching an agreement.
Influence (I)
The Influence personality is the most unpredictable, energetic, and extroverted team member. They are people-oriented and build connections with others. However, they can become unorganized, depending on people and ignoring details and duties. They can’t live without the approval of others. So they often react to pressure with verbal attacks.
Steadiness (S)
The Steady personality profile is quieter and more introverted. Such people are calm, patient, modest, and balanced. They are people-oriented and enjoy assisting others, collaborating, and establishing balance and harmony within a team.
At the same time, the desire to avoid disagreement may lead to unwanted results. They want to keep their relationships intact. That’s why they hesitate to speak up or draw attention, preferring to remain unnoticed. They may be afraid of change and look for stability and security. Indecisiveness may limit them.
Conscientiousness (Сompliance)
When the conscientious personality dominates, people pay attention to details, concentrate on the task and perform the work at the highest level. They are analytical, accurate, and cautious.
Such concentration on details may slow down the work. First, people with a high “C” score are usually perfectionists, which is unaffordable with strict deadlines. They expect everyone to adhere to their standards and everything to be flawless before finishing a task.
This test enables you to determine how team members will interact. Is it worth hiring a person where speed plays a role in decision-making? Will this person be decisive and communicative enough? Remember that there are no one-size-fits-all representatives. We are now talking about dominant character traits, but they can come with others.
You can take the free DISC personality test. It’s a short assessment based on 12 questions, so you can finish it in about 10 minutes.
3. StrengthsFinders
The third item on the list isn’t a personality test. The CliftonStrengths assessment is a performance-based tool. It aims to define your innate skills and the ability to apply them.
The Clifton StrengthsFinder serves to determine your talents. What natural predispositions influence your thinking, feeling, and behavior? The test relies on the idea that all people have 34 basic skills. Everyone is unique according to the degree of these talents.
In which sequence do they affect your personality? Some talents are especially strong, they come naturally, and you don’t have to put effort into doing something, i.e., communicating with large crowds. You constantly use such skills and are successful in them. Other talents are used extremely rarely and require significant effort. For example, you aren’t used to demonstrating emotions.
The Clifton StrengthsFinder is a set of 177 questions. You have a pair of descriptions on the left and right, such as “I am a sensitive person” and “I am a logical person”. You can click on the dots to choose the best-suited variant and the extent. A neutral response is also available.
You have to pick the right option within 20 seconds. Why? The reason is that the accuracy of the test results depends on whether you answer without thinking much. The next question will appear automatically after 20 seconds. The whole process takes 25-30 minutes to complete.
The test will define your top five strengths, explain their uniqueness, and suggest how to use them to your advantage. So it’s not just about looking for talents. It’s about harnessing the full potential. The assessment cost is $49.99.
Key Takeaways
Professional skills are still necessary when it comes to making the final decision. But how will the candidate complete tasks? Will the team be productive when it consists of leaders alone?
Strike a balance between various personality types. For example, a team of extroverted and creative people may generate innovative insights. But their energy may not often lead to actions to implement numerous ideas but remain on paper. So a successful business should maximize its effectiveness and employ people eager to follow instructions rather than create something new. That’s why you need to conduct personality tests.
They help you understand how a person will cooperate with others from the get-go. You can choose one of the tests I’ve provided above, such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), DiSC, and StrengthsFinders or discover other ways to check a candidate during interviews, problem-solving tests, and teamwork activities.
This article is written by Art Malkovich.
Art Malkovich is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Onilab, a full-service eCommerce agency focused on Magento. Being a Certified Magento Specialist and Master Project Manager, he keeps up to date with the latest trends in SEO, SaaS, B2B, and technology in general. Art is a business development professional with hands-on experience in eCommerce, Magento development, and migration.
“We are all now connected by the Internet, like neurons in a giant brain,” says Stephen Hawking.
This connection has changed how we communicate, work, learn, and whatnot! In the pandemic era, most companies switched to remote working, and with the help of the internet, working from home has proved to be easier and more productive.
Since there is no need to drive or spend time in vehicles, employees can save time drastically. Also, since they work from home, employees get more time to finish their household responsibilities and won’t feel distracted, which results in better productivity. Working from home has been shown to reduce stress, give more time for hobbies and interests, and enhance personal connections, among other things.
Remote, flexible workers tend to be happier and more devoted. Without the interruptions and reduced office politics that come with an office job and coworkers, the management of relationships can improve in addition to one’s health and well-being.
Though working from home or remotely has numerous benefits, it also has disadvantages. For example, meeting or discussing a project in person with a coworker or team manager won’t be possible. And it is imperative to keep everyone on the same page. Though remote work has considerable flexibility, distractions tend to come along.
Setting the right priorities and being on track is extremely important. Another crucial aspect is motivation. Individuals are different in how they think, talk, work, and live. The same is applicable in the case of encouragement as well. Some need extrinsic motivation, while others require only intrinsic motivation. Since extrinsic motivation has limitations when working from home, it is vital to find intrinsic motivation.
Another crucial support required is with technology hiccups. It is possible to avoid this with a fast and stable internet connection. When working remotely, time management is paramount. Family members might find you available 24/7 and might not be aware of your task priorities. So it is crucial to set boundaries to balance work and life.
If you are a team manager or an employer, managing employees efficiently can be a matter of concern. They should feel glad to power up their laptops and get working. We have some smart tips for you; try them out and see the changes they bring!
How to Stay Connected When Working Remotely – Tips for Managers
I. Regular Team Meetups
For better staffing services, it is essential to have continuous team interaction. Regular team meetups are unavoidable to build trust and bridge communication gaps. Trello, Asana, Teams, etc. are examples of software you can use to ensure all team members are on the same page. Having a detailed pre-set workflow is also essential.
A weekly meeting will help employees communicate, share their concerns, and better understand each other. Healthy communication makes work easier as employees will be willing to support each other better. The divide-and-rule formula is not an option for maintaining team spirit.
II. Virtual Socializing
Socializing virtually is essential for team building. It fosters relationships amongst your remote team members on a personal level. Creating these connections promote team harmony and can improve communication and boost output. To plan socializing virtually, you can arrange virtual workouts, lunches, events, event competitions, gift exchanges, group chats, and more.
Virtual Lunches
In most cases, remote workers can go to lunch with their coworkers in person (when they live nearby). These are not normal circumstances. So, promote a virtual lunch with the team. It’s not exactly like having lunch with coworkers at a restaurant, but for some people, it’s still preferable to eating alone! Additionally, a virtual office lunch is an option. Set up a group conference and invite everyone to attend to see what unfolds!
Virtual Workouts
Virtual workouts are a fantastic option for team building. Signing up for wellness programs like online yoga sessions or HIIT lessons as a team will help you engage positively. It will also be oodles of fun. Remember that having fun at the workplace is essential to boost employee morale. As part of the virtual wellness program, you can organize challenges like water drinking, battle of the elements, clean desk, virtual fitness, and more.
Coffee Chats
Like virtual lunches, coffee chats are also an excellent option to make employees feel connected and relaxed. Employees can take coffee breaks virtually and interact with their teammates just like actual office coffee breaks. It helps build meaningful professional relationships.
Group Chats
Group chat helps your team’s adaptability in several interconnected ways. It reduces the requirement for in-person meetings and saves time and energy. Thanks to group chat, decisions can be made remotely, faster.
Remote workers, particularly those who work irregular hours or outside the headquarters’ time zone, can feel their team isn’t available when they are though the opposite is true. Even if it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to be accessible all the time, knowing that they can contact their coworkers and maintain communication online makes virtual workers feel more bonded. Responding to messages and emails whenever you see them helps employees build trust and connection.
IV. Appreciation
Even when they are working remotely, your staff deserves to feel valued. Since you aren’t along with them in the workplace every day, you should find little ways to praise them for their hard work or treat them to lunch on their work anniversary or major wins as frequently as possible. Even a kind word can make a big difference.
Is somebody’s birthday today?
Send a virtual gift card their way.
Did an employee go above and beyond on a task?
Plan a call with the team to acknowledge their efforts.
Find small ways to show your staff that you appreciate them.
Make sure your virtual door is constantly open as well. The last thing you want is your employees feeling like they can’t communicate with you, ask questions, or voice concerns because miscommunications between remote workers are typical. Let them know that you are accessible for one-on-one talks, and when an employee confides in you, listen to them and respond accordingly – and keep it confidential!
Pro Tips
Now that we have discussed how to stay connected, knowing how to communicate is equally important. Make sure to communicate clearly and clarify doubts. It is also important to let your team members know your schedules. When in doubt, elucidate and keep communication professional.
Conclusion
Your team will be just as effective and productive working with remote workers as in the office. However, it can be challenging to describe and quantify what employee engagement means to the people in your team. Many people find it difficult to work remotely since multiple distractions, including TV, housework, roommates, and social media take their focus away.
Asking your staff about their work day and level of passion is the best method to determine how engaged they are. Additionally, you may keep an eye on their work progress and address any issues you might have with their performance. It would be best if you also built trust through employee engagement programs. When an employee approaches you with a problem, listen to them empathetically and take necessary actions.
Want to know how Engagedly can help you stay connected with your remote team members? Book a live demo with us.
Sophia is a passionate writer who regularly contributes tips and tricks for wellbeing and lifestyle. Having experience in human resource management, she guides companies on staff services. She is a full-time writer with more than ten years of experience.
Remote collaboration refers to the process that helps people to communicate and stay in touch from anywhere in the world. This allows people to work from their comfort and businesses to find the best talent no matter where they live. Your team could also be in several cities, states, or maybe countries but remote communication is straightforward with remote tools such as actual hardware like laptops and an internet connection. More commonly used software includes collaborative document editors like Google Docs, and Microsoft 365, different managing applications, video conferencing apps, instant messengers, and email.
Importance of Remote Collaboration Post COVID-19
COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown restrictions resulted in the worldwide population engaging from home almost overnight. To confirm that productivity wasn’t affected, companies rushed to implement software that might help people still work together.
Collaboration is vital for any company. With the increasing move towards work from home, working in unprecedented situations isn’t compromised when making the foremost of the opposite benefits functioning from home can provide. Moreover, effective teamwork not only allows individuals to require responsibility for or their part of any project but also allows them to focus on that area.
Challenges with Remote Collaboration
No clear boundaries – Without clear boundaries and routines during the workday, people can end up answering emails all the time, and feel like they’re working around the clock. This makes them less productive and eventually leads to burnout.
Asynchronous communication
Unfamiliarity — Async may not be familiar to many people who are used to real-time chat and engaging with colleagues and superiors.
Change Management — Async requires more data gathering upfront with effort placed on the earliest request
Speed — Since there is less direct interaction, there is less opportunity to measure and get real-time feedback
Decision-making struggles – When people can’t come together physically, it becomes a lot harder for brainstorming and debate ideas. Teams often rely on video conferencing tools like Zoom to stay connected, but these tools can complicate ideas.
Culture breakdown – Creating a positive culture of trust isn’t easy- it takes a lot of effort to promote and maintain it, even in an office environment. When a team is physically isolated from one another, the struggle to maintain a strong culture becomes 10x greater. People can easily feel left out, undervalued, or ignored, which can lead them to psychological tests or take a step back from their team and work.
Challenges with Hybrid workforce
Misalignment between in-office and remote employees
6 Reasons Why Remote Teams Need Agile Project Management Tool
Agile project management tools focus on delivering maximum value against business priorities within the given time and budget, especially when the will to deliver outweighs the risk. The Agile methodology is used by project managers and clients in project management companies. This iterative system is also known to be a priority when the project management team works remotely.
1. Effective Planning
Agile methodology helps in project planning by using the number of tasks in previous sprints to estimate the workload that a team can carry in future sprints. Also, Agile encourages effective planning by enabling the proper scheduling of tasks that helps the project manager to analyze and assign tasks that suits their strengths and abilities by undertaking how the team performed in previous sprints.
2. Teamwork and Collaboration
Project team members in Agile should relay information about progress and barriers. In the long run, they become familiar and share a common sense of identity, which positively affects the project. However, in Agile, tasks are shared after the sprint, i.e. the performance of one task depends on the performance of another. Therefore, teamwork among members is very important for the production of a large project.
3. Regular Meetings and Reports
Regular meetings and reports help to review progress and decode the way forward. These meetings are referred to as scrum meetings and sometimes it is also called standup. Scrum meetings help to trace progress and to track important data and metrics. Budgets, deadlines, and timelines need to be communicated at the scrum meeting to hold everyone along. Specific data displaying the activities of the various project management professionals and the way they contribute to the whole process is sometimes shared and analyzed at scrum meetings.
4. Flexibility
Agile project management tools are built on flexibility. The objective of a project in the initial stage and final stage often does not match. The freedom to make frequent changes is a plus for Agile.
5. Risk Management
The agile method has a great risk management device, especially for remote teams. This device works in four important steps; risk identification, risk assessment, risk response, and risk review.
Risk identification – Project risk can be identified by any member of the team. However, project managers identify the risks usually. In many cases, the customer/business owner also discovers the risk. Additionally, scrum meetings force project team members to look inward and ask questions that can identify risks.
Risk assessment – Risk assessment is measured by examining the likelihood that the risk materializes and the damage it can cause. Most risk managers use risk management software and calculations to approach risk.
Risk response – Risk response is essentially the solution to risk. It involves using different methods to deal with the effects of risk on an ongoing project.
Risk review – Risk review involves the application of risk assessment and risk response. Risk review prevents the reappearance of risks and early detection of risks.
6. Milestones
Milestones track progress to complete a portion of work. Measuring progress using milestones encompasses a great deal of what Agile methodology is about and the information found from regular sprints enable the team to move forward and plan for future sprints.
Remote communication and collaboration tools help businesses and companies work with internal and remote teams. These web-based tools have become increasingly popular among professionals who communicate and collaborate daily with internal and external teams.
1. G Suite
Google’s G Suite is a collection of communication and collaboration apps capable of taking your business to the next level. It’s the only service through which people streamline the way of communication and collaboration on important tasks and projects.
Sending and receiving emails through Gmail
Working on a workspace like Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Save copies of important documents and files in the Drive and easily share the documents
Connecting, and arranging meetings with team members from different sources of mediums like laptops, computers, and mobiles
2. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams helps to keep communication in internal and external meetings organized, easy to follow up on and improves the effectiveness of collaborative work.
Create a shared space for the team
Integrates with all Microsoft’s Suite products
Compatible with iOS and Android platforms
Encrypted communication with external and internal teams
3. Cloudways Team Feature
The Cloudways Team Feature helps to distribute workload among team members. With this feature, adding team members is as easy as adding their email addresses and granting permissions from the platform.
You can easily add, update, and delete team members using the Cloudways Team feature
You can permit the team member(s) to access Billing, connect with the Support team, and give business access to the Cloudways Platform
4. Slack
Slack is a popular remote communication and messaging platform built for interdepartmental and cross-functional teams. Rather than browsing multiple threads of emails and finding out email clutter, Slack makes it easy to attach, share relevant files, and create groups in line with specific channels.
Simple interface
Makes searching out groups easier
Compatible with Android and iOS platforms
5. Zoom
Zoom overcomes this obstacle by allowing meetings with a maximum of 1000 participants. At the basic level, team meetings can continue for 40 minutes. However, the number of visits is unlimited.
Integrate Zoom meetings into your Calendar
Creating a Waiting Room so that specific participants can join the meeting
Interactive backgrounds to hide clattered rooms
6. Hubstaff
Hubstaff helps identify gaps by monitoring and analyzing team activities like clocking, assigning team members to specific tasks, and assessing the general contribution of team members towards a particular task/project.
Receive project alerts and notifications
Monitoring team members to ensure team efficiency and productivity
Tracking billing for team members working on contracts, including freelancers and external teams
7. Trello
Trellois a very versatile and easy-to-use project management tool based on the Kanban system. It allows admins to create cards and follow a streamlined process that is customizable as per requirement.
Easily organize and manage tasks and projects
Customizable cards
Easy to include internal and external teams in project cards
Conclusion
In 2020, the remote work revolution accelerated hugely. This paved the road for the work-from-home lifestyle. The irrefutable benefits that remote work provides for employees, employers, and customers mean that it’s not likely to be going anywhere soon. Businesses need to leverage their remote workforce potential by demonstrating best practices for remote working, equipping teams with the right tools, and fostering an open and honest environment among remote workers.
Want to know how Engagedly can help you in remote collaboration? Book a live demo with us.
As you strive to employ workers from around the world to join your company, you must also put in the work to ensure their retention. As a business owner, you have competitors. Still, your workers see these businesses as alternatives, and the only reason they will remain at your organization is because of how you treat them. Employee experience refers to how employees perceive their journey in an organization. An employee with good experience working in an organization would have good testimonies whether they are remote, hybrid, or traditional workers. Giving your remote employees a good experience will determine whether they will remain at your organization or leave. In this article, you will learn eight strategies you can use to improve your remote employee experience.
1. Streamline your communication channel
Communication is essential for any organization to grow. Your remote employees are scattered worldwide and to keep them engaged, you have to have a reliable communication channel. Examine the chosen channel to see whether it suits your employees and ensure regular communication with them. You should also keep track of what is being said. Employees feel appreciated when their employers pay attention to what they say, so you must have a reliable communication channel.
2. Have a recognized payment channel
Every employee contributing significantly to your business must also receive timely payment. Make sure you have a payment method that is accepted all around the world. It would help if you were particular about the payment method that works for your employees before using it to distribute their funds. Some payment channels are accepted internationally, but not all nations recognize them. Give your employees pay stubs so they have a record of how their money is disbursed so that you can also control the payroll process.
3. Organize remote meetings
You should make your employees feel like they are a part of the company by frequently organizing meetings. By organizing virtual meetings, all your employees could get to meet with each other and at least know their roles and responsibilities. During the meeting, brief your workers about developments in the organization and where you want them to come in. You could also ask for their suggestions. In doing this, you make them feel like they are a part of something great and not just a cast-away employee.
4. Ensure your employees have all they need
Your staff should have everything they require to be productive. Even though they would have had specific tools and talents before being employed, your employees still need to acquire other tools to be successful. During virtual meetings, you might quiz your staff on what they currently have and what they need to improve productivity. Make a list of their requirements and figure out how to meet them. You might also provide them access to online tools to perform better at work.
5. Check-in on your employees
You don’t need to wait until things are dire before checking up on your remote workers. It is important as a manager to monitor how well your staff members are doing on the job. Check in with them frequently, inquire about their wellbeing, learn about their struggles, and discover how you can support them. You can guarantee your workers’ happiness and continued productivity by doing this. You want to make sure that the productivity of your remote workers stays high. If you don’t check in on them, you won’t be able to guarantee this.
Important milestones like anniversaries, birthdays, and reaching a target should be celebrated at work or virtually. On an employee’s birthday, you could plan a surprise virtual meeting to wish them a happy birthday and appreciate their contribution to your company. A lot of organizations often overlook this gesture. Celebrating significant achievements tells your employees that you care about their small wins, and it will encourage them to strive to do better.
7. Use remote work tools
It would be easier to assign tasks and submit them if you used remote work technologies like Skype, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. You must set up a route via which your staff members may easily submit their work and get new assignments. Other remote working solutions could help you streamline your interactions with your remote staff, even if many firms prefer to use emails.
8. Encourage your employees to socialize
You should establish a social media network where staff members can interact and plan online gatherings. Every weekend, you can plan events to promote bonding among your staff. After a challenging workweek, this might ease workplace tension. Your staff members’ self-awareness would also improve as a result. Ensuring that your employees have to time out is also important in shaping how they view you as a company.
Conclusion
It is not impossible to manage a global remote team. Even though it seems quite challenging when you first consider doing it, technology has made it simpler. To successfully manage your remote business, you must come up with a plan for providing your staff with a positive working environment. Although numerous additional techniques guarantee that your remote employees enjoy their time working for your company, implementing the tactics mentioned above would help you provide the greatest working environment for your staff.
Want to know how Engagedly can help you improve the remote employee experience? Book a live demo with us.
Daisy is an industrial and organizational psychologist who researches to identify solutions to problems that improve the well-being and performance of organizations and their employees. Daisy is also a freelance writer and often writes articles for credible blogs.
While remote working has been a norm for a long time, it gained immense traction during the Covid-19 pandemic and later on. According to research, the number of remote working employees has increased by 159% from 2009 to 2021, which is no surprise.
Many professionals still find working from anywhere challenging, as they feel lost in managing the quality of work and personal life. The need of the hour is to devise an engaging and interactive strategy to keep your employees motivated to work from anywhere.
The concept of working from anywhere enthralled the corporate world’s attention when businesses were facing a talent pool shortage at their office locations and had to search for deserving candidates from across the globe. The Covid-19 pandemic also pressured businesses to enable remote working as a new normal. The workforce and the companies have their respective challenges in managing the successful work from anywhere strategy irrespective of various reasons.
Successful work from anywhere strategy
Here are some practical tips to make remote working a successful part of your business.
1. Using a Digital Adoption Platform
Among the many tools meant to support remote working employees and help them adapt to new technologies and processes, Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) is the best choice. It can handle multiple business-related tasks for globally located employees like:
Moreover, certain DAPs have analytics that can assist businesses in identifying gaps and starting work on creating effective workflows.
Apty is a credible name in this context, as its dedicated digital adoption platform helps companies to ensure:
Smooth remote onboarding and training of new employees
Guaranteed business continuity
Making data-driven decisions based on analytics
2. Create dedicated working spaces
Unwanted disturbances and sounds often create distractions while concentrating on an important task or virtual meetings. The ideal solution is to create a dedicated working space at your location, such as in a peaceful corner of your home. Working professionals can establish a working table, comfortable seating, etc., to get the exact feel of their official workplace.
Sumit Bansal, Founder and CEO of TrumpExcel, says “As a business owner, parent, and individual, true balance is hard to achieve. I find myself leaning in too much in one direction and sacrificing in other directions. I can be an engaged parent and a mediocre team leader, or I can work 70 hours a week and do the bare minimum as a parent. Sometimes balance means leaving early to hit the slopes with my kids or meeting with my team for a virtual happy hour.I used to work from my bed when I first started, and it affected my sleep. Having a dedicated, comfortable workspace helps the mind naturally focus.”
3. Abide by regular office hours
For employees operating from their respective workspaces, it is essential to:
Define regular working hours
Comply with the official timings
Remain strict during the breaks
Go distraction-free during working hours
Adhering to these tips will help your workforce be productive at a given time without taking a toll on their personal lives.
Setting the regular office hours creates a sense of responsibility, and the family members feel relieved of the working hours. It is essential to include frequent coffee breaks, tea breaks, etc., during remote working, which the employees usually take while working from the office.
Moreover, the ability to work from anywhere does not mean that workers are available at any time. The employees should therefore respect and value their personal lives.
Abdul Saboor, a Full Stack Developer at The Stock Dork, says, “Whether you work from home or in an office, plan your working day to incorporate numerous regular breaks. For example, taking breaks lowers the time spent distracted by colleagues, family, or domestic activities during regular work hours. Because most individuals can only focus for 90 minutes at a time, taking frequent breaks is critical for being productive throughout the day.”
4. Create rules when working
Professionals may not be alone at their current location, which results in the setting of rules to focus on work. These can include:
No entrance for kids when at work
Asking someone else to handle delivery persons, home-helps, and more
Optimal screen time during working hours
These and many other similar rules lay the foundation of the strict office environment at home. Hence, it is essential to stick to them. Professionals abiding by these rules can increase focus at work, thus leading to better productivity.
5. Create a healthy working environment with colleagues
It is likely for professionals working from anywhere to miss the office chit-chat with their colleagues. It may seem unimportant at first glance, but it contributes to their productivity. Therefore, professionals must take the initiative to create a healthy working environment with colleagues, even when connected remotely. For instance:
Conducting virtual meetings during coffee breaks or lunch breaks could replicate the official break time
Companies can conduct fun activities like fun Fridays, etc. to improve employee engagement
There could be sessions to introduce new employees to the team to promote a healthy remote office environment
6. Follow a healthy regime
Work has taken a toll on the health of many busy professionals and the work from anywhere model can worsen this situation further. It is high time that employees realize that remote working has restricted their physical activities in the absence of traveling or movement in their office. Hence, it is imperative to pay attention to a healthy regime that may subsume:
This rule applies to people having long screen times due to any reason. Doctors recommend such people to:
Spend around 20 seconds after every 20 minutes of screen time to gaze at something located at a distance of about 20 feet.
This appears fit for employees who work from anywhere for long hours, as it can help minimize the strain on their eyes, thereby contributing to a healthy regime.
Alex Uriarte from 1-800 Injured says, “The Pomodoro technique is a time management approach that emphasizes brief bursts of work to improve focus. Figure out what distracts you the most and use that as your daily motivator to get things done.”
7. Don’t forget self-care
Like professionals love to relax on weekends, they need to create self-care time when working remotely. The definition of self-care is not the same for all. Hence, the employees can decide their ‘me-time’ according to their likes or dislikes.
It is essential to stay away from work during self-care time or prevent the work from consuming your leisure time.
Joe Troyer, the CEO & Growth Advisor of ReviewGrower, says, “By regulating our stress and encouraging self-care, we were able to grow our business during the pandemic to keep up with the demand for our services. The increased number of customers didn’t phase us. I believe this is why we encourage healthy work habits and recreational activities.”
Conclusion
73% of departments are likely to have remote workers by 2028. With the increasing trends in work from anywhere culture, professionals need to create a successful remote working strategy.
It includes effective communication, delegation, work delivery, sticking to timelines, occasional informal interactions, etc. The significant part of the picture is to stick to this strategy to get the optimum results. The remote work journey is smooth with a dedicated system with appropriate time for flexibility.
Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you create a successful work-from-anywhere strategy? Book a live demo with us.
Kruti Shah is a content writer and marketer at The Marketing Drama. She loves to write about insights on current trends in technology, business, and marketing. In her free time, she loves baking and watching Netflix. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
Remote work is increasingly popular. After all, there are a string of benefits when working remotely. There’s no stressful commuting, no managers and colleagues looking over your shoulder at all times, and no worrying that you may have no lunch as your boss makes you deliver some urgent ad-hoc task during lunchtime (you have no time to go out to grab something to eat). That said, managing a remote workforce is not without its challenges.
A remote workforce typically carries out work away from a physical office. Most choose the option of working from home. However, managing a remote team is challenging. While you may strive for “business as usual,” several pitfalls of remotely working await you. Here are the challenges of a remote workforce and how to overcome them:
1. No Work-Life Balance
The irony of not having a work-life balance when remote working is that many opt for remote work in the first place to enjoy a healthier work-life balance. However, having no work-life balance is one of the pressing remote work challenges; not knowing when to turn off “work mode.”
At the office, there is a clear signal; you see people turning off their computers when it is time to ring out. You know it is time to stop work and leave.
However, at home, there is no clear signal to stop working. You keep chugging on despite the sun setting down. Some of you worry that your bosses think you are slacking when working at home, so you want to prove them wrong by working off the clock. Ultimately, you will burn out.
How to Overcome?
Prioritizing work is essential to ensuring remote work success. However, balancing work with breaks is equally important. Hence, remote workers must manage their time wisely. When it is time to work, stick to it, but when it is time to relax and take a break, do so.
If you’re the manager, you have to get your team members to have a balanced schedule of work and breaks, and they must adhere to it. Remember to allow some flexibility in their work schedule. After all, everyone is different and has various needs. Also, regularly remind them to ring out when it is time.
Emphasize the importance of de-stressing with their respective hobbies and others during off-work times. Encourage remote employees to have a separate workspace in the house and never bring work out of the room. Your remote workers must have a psychological differentiation between work and personal life.
When working from the office, you can drop by your co-worker’s place and have a quick discussion. You then know how to proceed confidently. However, when working remotely, collaborating becomes tougher. Things become worse when each team member is not aware of their respective tasks and the project’s progress.
As the manager, you do not know what your team members are working on and at what rate. You also don’t know which team members are not pulling their weight or are overloaded when remotely working since you do not know their productivity.
How to Overcome?
There are collaboration tools that help managers track and monitor the productivity of the team. Establishing clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is essential to measure each individual’s productivity and a guide for your staff. Doing so does not mean that you must micromanage.
Your goal is to track their productivity so that you can make necessary adjustments to maintain high output and meet deadlines. Setting clear deadlines, detailing each task and expectations, tracking projects’ progress, and regularly reviewing them are just a few to ensure your team is on track.
Identify the suitable project management tool that gives everyone a real-time bird’s eye view and a more zoomed-in view of each individual task-at-hand and its progress. Get your team to regularly update their progress so that everyone knows where everyone is at all times.
Moreover, implement the security best practices for your remote workforce. Insider threats are dominant and can cripple a whole organization overnight.
Set a reasonable schedule for a meet-up to accurately gauge productivity within a suitable time frame. Not too many as such meet-ups can backfire and disrupt your team’s focus, but just enough to help you track major milestones and catch potential issues in time.
3. Too Many Distractions
You may have removed office distractions like colleagues coming over and chatting at your desk or having a co-worker’s birthday celebration at the cafeteria when working remotely. Unfortunately, there are other interruptions at home – family and doorbells.
It becomes more difficult if you have toddlers at home who cannot understand why you cannot play with them when you’re at home. Also, there’s no over-the-shoulder accountability that would keep you in check. Hence, you get easily sidetracked.
How to Overcome?
It can be as simple as taking your family aside and explaining to them that you are not to be disturbed whenever you are working (in focus mode). Doing so will only result in longer work hours to complete your tasks, which eventually means less time with them later.
You can also help your family become more independent and self-sufficient to reduce the probability of interrupting you at work. Worse case, lock your room and put up a ‘Do not Disturb’ sign. However, know that there are times that the interruptions are unavoidable, especially emergency ones. So, set clear boundaries, but be flexible when you have to.
4. Lack of Communication
Communication is key to the success of everything, be it personal or business, and this especially applies to a remote workforce. There’s no face-to-face interaction, which makes communication more difficult. As a team manager, you’re always skeptical and wondering if the team is making progress. As a team member, you worry if your manager knows of your contribution or thinks you’re not doing your work.
Although under-communicating can create dissension among the team members, over-communicating can cause the team to feel suffocated, untrusted, and micromanaged. Hence, striking the right balance between them is crucial.
How to Overcome?
Leverage technology to enhance employee experience. It is of utmost importance for the manager to identify a suitable internal communication platform as a dedicated place where open communication is encouraged. Also, the manager should invite questions, provide answers, and actively listen to the team members. After everyone has provided their input, you address any issues promptly.
Never dismiss your team members because doing so will only make them clamp up in the future. No matter what communication platform you use, ensure that all are involved and actively participate. Adopt a direct approach and be specific in your messages to avoid possible misunderstandings. Also, be careful of the tone because sometimes, it is not what you say but how you say it.
5. Unhealthy Lifestyle
When you’re at the office, there will be times you are required to move around to attend meetings and climb stairs to attend training and conferences. However, when you’re at home, you are literally at your desk all day because all meetings and training are virtual; this is especially true for knowledge work.
Some stay on the internet for long periods until they have forgotten how dangerous the internet can be. You place yourself and the company’s critical data at a security risk anyways.
Home sweet home. Yes, everything is comfy and whatever you need is at home. Your fridge is just several paces away. So, you binge eat all day as it is nice to chew on some crispy junk food to help stay awake.
Or it could be the direct opposite when you work and work until you have forgotten that you have legs.
How to Overcome?
Well, there’s no wonder drug for this. But you must be disciplined to be more mindful of what is good for you and what isn’t. Please include exercise routines in your schedule (you need vitamin D) and fix healthy snacks when you feel hungry.
6. Lack of Motivation
Remote working can get your team members depressed and bogged down. After all, there is much less human interaction. They can feel lonely and not motivated to work. Or they may feel like they aren’t growing much or developing any skills, a huge bummer for most companies.
In general, humans are social beings. They need to feel that they belong in an inner circle to feel needed. At home, they may feel isolated from the rest of the team members and drift away. Eventually, their output will be affected.
How to Overcome?
Let your team members realize that their tasks depend on one another so each will know the importance of their work and that it can hold up another person’s deliverables. Your team will feel more motivated to work and deliver. Also, please award praises when needed (do not overdo this as they can become diluted and ineffective).
When you give your team members the recognition they deserve, they will feel visible and appreciated. Reinforce them positively to push them to achieve more. Make it a habit to include virtual one-on-one meetings to discuss personal and professional growths. Take notes so you will know how to support them better. Have empathy when you chat with them, but know when to be firm when you need to.
Conclusion
Managing an on-site team is not easy. What more than a remote team when there’s no face-to-face interaction? Fret not, as the remote workforce challenges are surmountable. Pursue the above to improve productivity, boost employee morale, increase efficiency, enjoy flexibility, and more. After all, remote work (if done right) can be rewarding; a company shines when the employees shine too.
Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you overcome the challenges of a remote workforce? Book a live demo with us.
Jason Chow is a marketer at WebRevenue, a company that helps online businesses to thrive with tailored solutions. Jason loves to write about remote workforce, communication skills, SaaS, and more.
Thanks to the pandemic, remote working has become the norm in so many industries. It has a lot of benefits, such as eliminating commuting time, reducing costs, and removing office distractions. Of course, there are challenges too. One of those is time management, something that can be difficult to have oversight on when you have a remote team.
The good news is you can help remove the challenge by having a good remote time management plan in place. Here’s how to create one and get the most out of your teams, wherever they work.
Why Create A Time Management Plan?
Is a time management plan needed for remote workers? It’s highly recommended, as there are lots of benefits that you can reap by using them. These include:
A better sense of direction for staff, and knowing what’s required of them.
Fewer miscommunications in the workflow.
More engagement for those who are working from home.
Less time is needed for organizing employees.
Better final product and client satisfaction.
So, there are plenty of benefits to using a time management plan in your team. Now, you need to know how to write it. These tips will help you get the most from your plan.
Set Expectations Upfront
The very first thing you’ll want to do is discuss a time management plan with your team. You’re going to want to set expectations upfront, so they all know what’s expected of them as they’re working remotely.
Ensure that you listen to this team at this stage. What are they expecting from the remote working system? Is there anything they’re concerned about, or anything that they want to happen? This feedback will help you put a plan together that’s easy to use and realistic.
Pick Between Time Tracking Or Productivity Tracking
When it comes to time management plans, you’ll either want to focus on time tracking or productivity tracking. “On average, many employees will prefer to stay working remotely as they prefer the flexibility it gives them,” says Fiona Carmichael, a project manager from Dissertation discussion and OX Essays. “You’ll want to keep this in mind when making a decision.”
Productivity tracking will usually allow for more flexibility in the workflow, so many employers will choose this method when creating their plans. However, it does depend on the work you do, so consider carefully before you start putting the plan in stone.
There are plenty of time management platforms out there you can use to create your plan. It is highly advisable that you use one, as trying to do it over instant messaging or email is going to be far too difficult to track. With a platform, everything is kept in one place so everyone can see what’s needed from them at a glance.
As well as a platform like Slack or Trello, consider using cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive. This allows everyone to share files, so you and your clients can access them when needed.
Define Your KPIs
You’ll need to create and define the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your team as they work remotely. What will be expected from them? You can set both short and long-term goals for each team member, and then they have a clear idea of what they need to be working towards. This is something you can discuss in individual coaching.
Now you have all the tools in place, you’ll want to create a regular slot in the schedule for a meeting with the whole team. This should allow for everyone to share where they’re at with a project, and give feedback. This will be how the team gets together, as they won’t be working in the same space.
Remember that as they’re remote, the team may not be working the traditional 9 – 5. You’ll want to find a time that works for everyone. Doing this ensures that you can stay flexible, and give your team the space they need.
Also, you can organize meetings into mandatory and secondary meetings. Make the agendas available for all sessions, so staff will know what will be discussed.
Plan Out Individual Meetings Too
Now that you have group meetings in the schedule, you’ll have to ensure that you make time for one on one coaching and development, too. This needs to be handled whether your team is remote or in the office, so either way, you’ll be ready for it.
Take the time to reach out to every team member, and work out the best time for individual coaching. It’s arguably more crucial in remote teams, as you’ll be looking to help them stay connected and focused on their work when they’re not in the office.
It’s even more important you do so when you have younger employees or recent graduates on your team. They will need coaching to help them reach their full potential, and it can be harder for them to do so when they’re working remotely.
Have Deadlines In Place
You’ll have deadlines for KPIs and deliverables, whether your team is in the office or remotely. When your team is remote, it’s even more important to make these deadlines as obvious as possible.
“As the team aren’t centralized, it’s easy for them to lose sight of the big picture,” says HR manager Graham Pike, from Paper Fellows and Boom Essays. “You want to ensure that everyone is on the same page.”
Create timelines and deadlines in your action plan, and have them available to view within your chosen platform. That helps staff stay on target when they’re working, and get everything delivered on time.
With these tips, you’ll be able to create a time management plan that works for you and your team. It will make remote work much more feasible and every staff member will know what’s expected of them. Start writing your time management plan now, to get the best results.
Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you manage your remote teams? Book a live demo with us.
Sara Sparrow is a technical writer for Assignment service and Academized. She covers workflow and time management for business owners. She’s also a writer for Write my essay.
Are you still trying to decode the complicated challenge of employee engagement in your organization? Have you done well to reap the tangible business benefits of high employee engagement? As per Forbes, organizations with high employee engagement can drive 21 percent higher profitability. That does sound amazing for sure. However, it is also true that not all organizations have been successful in cultivating the kind of engagement that can effectively contribute to business success.
To substantiate, as per Gallup, not more than 36 percent of US workers are engaged in their work. This explains why organizations are now keen on looking at some novel and unique strategies for promoting greater engagement.
However, Cultivating strong workplace belongingness in employees can help you achieve exemplary levels of employee engagement. It is vital to ask here, what is workplace belonging and how can it help organizations unleash scalable engagement?
In this blog, we find answers to these questions that will help you understand how creating a strong sense of belonging among employees can be the key to employee engagement. To begin with, let us delineate the concept of workplace belonging.
Defining Workplace Belongingness
In the workplace, employees feel different kinds of emotions that reflect their commitment, behavior, and confidence. Among these feelings and emotions, the sense of belongingness that they feel for their organization is important for you as a leader to assess. In simple terms, workplace belongingness explains how accepted and valued your employees feel in the workplace.
When employees carry a strong sense of belonging, they manifest the belief that they deserve to be in the workplace and are valuable to the organization. Furthermore, this sense of belonging also influences the kind of emotional affection they feel for their employers and organizations. Simply put, when your employees feel a strong sense of belonging, they will have greater loyalty. Besides, they will see their individual success in correlation with organizational growth.
Now that we are on the same page regarding what workplace belonging signifies, let us understand its implications. The subsequent section elucidates the various ways in which workplace belonging can boost employee engagement.
5 ways workplace belonging can enhance employee engagement
Enhances confidence and performance
Let’s start this discussion with a simple question you must think about as a leader. Will your employees give their best unless they feel confident enough in the workplace? Needless to say, confidence is the foundation of exceptional performances. In fact, your employees’ self-belief and morale blend together to reflect the overall confidence that your organization carries.
But what do you think is essential for them to feel confident enough? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Your employees will feel optimistic when they feel valued in the organization. Confidence comes with acceptance and as a leader, it is your responsibility to make your employees feel accepted for their individuality, skills, talents, and opinions.
When you successfully promote that kind of confidence in them, performance levels are bound to go up. Can you perform exceptionally well despite the fact that you are not very confident about it? Certainly, the chances are quite bleak, to be fair. Having said that, you need to promote greater belongingness in your employees to channel their confidence in the right way.
The bottom line is that confidence and performance complement each other. When employees feel valued, they will feel the constant urge to raise the bar of performance and offer greater value to the organization.
To substantiate, Deloitte research reveals that a strong sense of workplace belonging among employees can increase their job performance by 56 percent. The report further highlights that workplace belonging can also lead to a 50 percent decline in employee turnover. Clearly, workplace belonging holds the key to workplace motivation.
Did you know that? Well, now you do and you must act on it to boost your company’s engagement scenarios.
Brings down absenteeism
Absenteeism is quite a realistic and credible metric of employee management, engagement, and satisfaction. Looking at the broader perspective, there could be multiple and subjective reasons for high absenteeism in an organization. Among these reasons, a desolate feeling of belongingness in the workplace is surely considerable. To explain, employees will only want to come to a workplace if they feel that strong sense of association and belonging. Otherwise, they can choose from a wide spectrum of excuses to make for not attending the office. Besides, when they have a strong sense of belongingness, they will understand their responsibility better. Consequently, they will not keep things hanging by taking arbitrary leaves.
Assessing further, there is a proven inverse relationship between workplace belonging and absenteeism. Research suggests that by promoting a strong sense of workplace belongingness, organizations can reduce sick days by 75 percent.
The lower the absenteeism rate in your organization, the higher will be the engagement. So, create a workplace people would love to be a part of on a daily basis. Give your employees a workplace that inspires the best in them every day. For that, it is essential to foster powerful feelings of belongingness among employees that enable them to contribute more proactively.
Promotes greater trust
As per Harvard Business Review, trust and employee engagement have a direct correlation. This correlation is explained through the following insights.
Employees in high trust companies exhibit 76 percent higher engagement and 50 percent higher productivity. Also, employees manifest 106 percent higher energy levels when trust is embedded in the natural virtue in the organizational culture.
In organizations that cultivate trust, employees express 29 percent higher satisfaction
In companies where there is high trust between co-workers, burnout rates are 40 percent lower and the stress levels are 76 percent lower.
It is amazing how a single virtue of trust can lead an organization to incredible things. What we need to figure out is the correlation between workplace belonging and trust. Acceptance is the basis of trust and this will always remain an undeniable fact.
When employees feel accepted, valued, and appreciated, they trust their co-workers with greater ease. This is how belongingness proves to be imperative for positive workplace relationships that can drive high engagement.
With high trust, people collaborate better and steer their organizations to new horizons of success. Are you willing to go that extra mile to create high trust in your organization? As a leader, you need to lead by example
Cultivates better inclusiveness
Inclusion and diversity are among the most significant trends in the contemporary workplace. Organizations are more eager than ever before to embrace the virtues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. However, for that, hiring a diverse workforce may not be sufficient.
To get the best out of your diverse workforce, you need to incorporate inclusion as a natural virtue into your company’s culture. This is where creating a strong sense of workplace belonging among your employees can be of great help.
When you foster an inspiring sense of workplace belonging, you include your employees in the decision-making process and empower them to share their perspectives. Or to look at it the other way, when employees carry that feeling of belongingness, they feel like contributing more. In this zeal to add more value to the organization, they come up with innovative ideas and creative insights that can be of great value to any organization.
In fact, in the highly competitive business world, you need to innovate at every level to sustain your competitive advantages. What better than a workforce that feels excited every day to bring innovative and creative ideas to the floor? You can literally draw great value from a workforce that does not shy away from taking initiative.
By promoting a greater sense of belonging among your employees, you can also inspire greater creative liberty among your employees. This creative liberty will become the basis of a massive hike in employee engagement levels.
All in all, creating a sense of belonging in your workforce can lead to greater inclusiveness in multifarious ways. Further, this increased inclusiveness will lead to higher engagement in the workplace in multiple ways.
Leads to a more resilient workforce
In the contemporary corporate world, the skill of resilience has immeasurable value. In the last few years, daunting challenges such as COVID-19 pandemic have tested businesses to their core. Organizations that were resilient enough to these changes survived, while others went out of business..
Resilience has become a sought-after skill in the modern workplace. It also complements engagement in a direct way. When employees are resilient, they stay upbeat even in the face of adverse challenges.
As a leader, You would want your employees to have exemplary resilience at all times. But what does it take to inspire resilience among employees?
Employees will give their best to stand by their organizations when there is a powerful sense of belongingness. Why would they want to face all kinds of challenges for their organizations unless they are convinced that they are a valuable asset to the company? Therefore, it is correct to say that by promoting belongingness among your employees, you can make them more resilient and hence, boost engagement.
Conclusion
To encapsulate, there are multidimensional benefits linked to encouraging a strong sense of workplace belongingness among employees. When you help your employees build a deeper connection with your organization, they feel valued and empowered to bring out the best in them. Especially, when it comes to a diverse workforce, working on fostering a sense of belongingness among employees seems far more essential. As a leader, your ability to inspire belongingness among your employees holds the key to driving high employee engagement.
Author’s Bio
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.” Wayne Dyer’s thoughts are well suited to Kiara Miller. She has been working as a content marketing professional at ‘The Speakingnerd’. Her passion for writing is also visible in the innovative joys of material she provides to her readers.
Some observe that certain large, well-known organizations such as General Motors Co., Citigroup, Ford Motor Co., Nationwide, and IBM have adopted a hybrid model of working as they see it as the trend of the future. Having mentioned this, there are many other companies that are going fully remote. Currently, both trends are gaining traction after the pandemic. The hybrid system is becoming a more accepted form of a working model, as it allows an employee to work from home on certain days and go to the office on the remaining days.
Also, as aforementioned, there are many employees who want to work from home. It is expected that most of the workforce will prefer to work remotely by 2028. Thus, remote and hybrid models of working are growing in popularity and are here to stay.
Hybrid/remote working models: Overcoming the challenges
Though hybrid and remote working models are necessities of the present times, organizations will have their own set of challenges in training employees for these models. One of the major challenges is providing constant feedback to the team members to ensure that all are on the same page. This is where a 360 degree review survey can be a handy review system that would ensure that timely feedback is provided to the employees, irrespective of adopting any working model.
One can also use a 360-degree feedback software as offered by Engagedly, which offers the feature of providing real-time feedback to employees who work in a hybrid or remote work environment.
This blog post will focus on what is the 360 degree feedback process; why opt for a 360-degree feedback system for hybrid and remote employees? How to employ a 360-degree feedback system in hybrid and remote environments, and its benefits.
Understanding 360 degree feedback and its significance
360° feedback system focuses on employees’ feedback; colleagues’ feedback; a manager’s feedback, and customers’ feedback. One of the best aspects of the 360° feedback mechanism is that it is impartial as it offers feedback from all avenues.
The 360-degree feedback system plays a big role in identifying and nurturing future talents; bringing collaboration among the employees and managers, and fostering an open and transparent workplace culture.
In the present hybrid and remote working age, a 360-degree feedback method provides employees with the required insights into their performance and helps them to improve themselves, aligned with the company’s objectives.
Importance of a 360-degree feedback survey for hybrid and remote employees
Managers can bolster hybrid and remote employees’ productivity in several ways by using the 360-degree feedback review mechanism, as described below:
Understanding team’s concerns and suggestions:
A company can lose billions of dollars in profits if it ignores disengaged employees’ concerns and feedback. This is where a 360-degree feedback system can help a manager understand his team‘s concerns and suggestions so that the team‘ productivity can give consistently increasing outputs. As per a research study, employees who feel their voices are heard are more likely (4.6 times) to feel encouraged and would give their best efforts. This holds true for both hybrid and remote employees.
Empathy:
The current workplace scenarios are such that a lot of work has to be done in less time period. In such situations, employees may get stressed and may not have enough time to spend time with their families. This is where managers can act as a coach so that employees can learn to complete their work in less time and maintain a work-life balance.
Thus, the 360-degree feedback system helps managers to identify if an employee is finding it difficult to balance or draw a line between his personal and professional life. 96% of employees are of the thoughts that caring and empathic managers can increase employee retention.
Understanding the level of employees’ stress:
There will be a high level of absenteeism in the workplace if employees are overworked and they have the feeling of being isolated and disengaged. This is highly prevalent in a remote working model wherein the employees feel they have to work more to prove to their efficiency and productivity to their managers.
With the use of 360-degree feedback review, managers will come to know about the level of stress experienced by an employee, through the employee himself and his colleagues. Managers can guide the remote employee and address his fears.
Eliminating the biased nature of the feedback system:
Sometimes, unfortunately, hybrid or remote employees may not get the desired reviews or may be the subject of biased reviews from the managers for their performance. This may happen as managers may not be aware of the remote or hybrid employees’ contributions as much as they have knowledge about in-house employees’ contributions. So remote employees can feel helpless and isolated, and they may leave the company.
When a 360-degree feedback system is implemented, it can eliminate such a biased nature of the review, as colleagues and clients take part in the review process.
Implementing a 360-degree feedback process for hybrid and remote teams
A 360-degree feedback process is undoubtedly an effective means of enhancing employees’ performance and productivity. However, this is only possible if you implement the 360-degree review process correctly. You can follow the below techniques to implement the 360-degree feedback process for hybrid and remote teams.
Face-to-face approach:
The best way to communicate with your employees is by talking to them face-to-face. Sending feedback through emails can be cold and impersonal and may give a feeling to the employees that their managers aren’t open to the idea of addressing their issues.
Sending feedback through the email over a longer duration can make employees feel they are not a part of the team and their contribution to the company is insignificant. Thus, it is always better to talk to the employee on a one-to-one basis during the review process. For remote employees, a face-to-face conversation can be carried out over a video call embedded within a 360-degree performance review software.
Agenda for 360 degree feedback process:
The agenda of the 360° feedback review process should be made clear to the employees so that they feel that the review process is for their own good. If your employees don’t understand the scope and purpose of the survey, there is a possibility that they may shy away from sharing the relevant information with you. Thus, before the review process, communicate to the employees that this feedback will improve their performance and help them reduce their workload and stress. For remote employees, you can use performance review software for conveying the agenda.
Anonymous review system:
Most of the companies implement a 360-degree feedback system in an anonymous fashion so that employees may not have to fear their feedback will be leaked out of the discussion room. For implementing the anonymous review feedback, use Engagedly’s 360-degree performance review software which allows the employees to share their feedback and concerns with their higher management on the software itself.
Eliminating favoritism:
There is always a possibility that a manager may prefer certain employees for promotion over others, which may lead to a biased review. When performance review is conducted using a performance review software that allows feedback to flow in from managers, colleagues, and clients, it can prevent such biased decisions. Interestingly, a system like this should also help employees to bond better, since employees who deserve credit will receive appreciation from their colleagues.
Simplifying the feedback:
You, as a manager, need to ensure that your feedback is easy to understand for your team members. This is possible when you use a 360-degree performance review software that allows you to demonstrate your ideas for improvements using charts and graphs. Once you have explained the areas of improvement to your team members, you can explain a defined plan for their self-improvement and suggest baseline employee performance for the company’s growth.
Understanding what is working and what is not working:
The 360° feedback review system would help managers to understand what processes are working and what are not working and, they can tweak them so that the overall productivity increases. Importantly, the feedback review system would bring better transparency and would make communication among employees easier within hybrid or remote work models.
Benefits of 360° feedback review system for hybrid and remote employees
Given below are some benefits of using the 360° feedback review system for hybrid and remote employees.
Self-understanding
A 360-degree feedback system helps employees to understand when they are going wrong and how they need to improve. They come to know the areas for improvement from their managers, peers, and clients. This way they can self-understand their limitations and develop their skills as per the company requirements. Further, employees become more productive and efficient because of self-awareness.
Enhance communication and collaboration
Since the covid-19 outbreak, communication and collaboration have been challenging for various businesses. Managers and subordinates find it difficult to build close relationships when working remotely. Sometimes, managers make use of certain jargon during a long-distance video call that employees may not understand. Here is where 360-degree feedback can help managers to understand various communication challenges that employees face and jargon that should be avoided so that it doesn’t cause problems for the employees.
Eliminate biases
Remote or hybrid working employees may feel that employees who work on the site daily often receive more benefits than them. This kind of perception may affect the overall productivity of the company. In order to avoid such circumstances, managers can make use of a 360-degree feedback system to provide clear communication and maintain transparency among employees.
Bring cohesiveness
360-degree feedback evaluates an employee’s performance individually and as a team. The 360-degree evaluation ensures that employees’ efforts are aligned with the company’s mission, objectives, and vision.
Develop strong leadership skills
360-degree review surveys are meant not only for employees but also for managers too. Reviews offered by employees help managers to improve their leadership skills. Through anonymous survey platforms as offered by Engagedly’s performance review software, employees need not fear about their reviews being read by managers. Thus, employees can freely express their opinions regarding a manager’s team handling capability and performance to higher management. This may help managers to develop even their own leadership skills.
Improve employee engagement
Engaged employees can be highly efficient and productive. They’re even ready to go that extra mile to achieve their goals. With the use of a 360-degree feedback survey, you can get to know as a company what you should do so that employees will be highly engaged and motivated to do their jobs. Again here, you can make use of Engagedly’s performance review software to carry out anonymous surveys.
As hybrid and remote work environments become more prevalent, 360-degree feedback should become the norm. Management needs to adopt an innovative technical solution, such as Engagedly’s 360-degree performance review software, to understand the challenges faced by the employees and boost their performance.
Our 360-degree performance review software gives employees and their managers insight into their progress toward goals and key results. The solution can also help you to break down a larger goal into smaller ones that can be tracked and monitored. This would ensure that the employees are making advancements in the right direction.
Want to know how Engagedly can help you manage your hybrid employees better? Request us for a demo.
Stop everything for a moment and think about the last time you were told that you were doing a great job. How did that make you feel? Good, right? All employees need that pat on the back to stay motivated and work at their optimal productivity levels.
The relationship between managers and their direct reports is crucial to successfully running a company. And one effective way to achieve a positive relationship between them is through one-on-one meetings. A one-on-one meeting presents an environment to have honest talks on various topics, leading to a less stiff atmosphere between managers and their direct reports.
A crucial side of this meeting is asking the right questions to make the most of them. Asking the right one on one questions helps stir the conversation in the right and productive direction. This article will discuss the importance of one-on-one meetings and the type of one-on-one questions managers should ask.
Why conduct one-on-one meetings?
People, not robots, make up companies. Therefore, there should be a means to improve communication between employees and management. Fortunately, one-on-one meetings present managers with this opportunity. A study by SHRM found 89% of HR Leaders agree to ongoing check-ins and communication help retain and recruit better.
In this section, we will highlight the reasons for conducting one-on-one meetings.
Builds Trust
It takes effort to build trust, and it’s crucial to build trust between managers and direct reports to run a successful team and, by extension, a successful business. A Human Era at Work study revealed employees who trust their management also respect them. The study also found that when employees trust and value their managers, they were 58% more focused and 63% more satisfied with their jobs.
Improves Engagement
To get the best out of employees, they must be engaged. Employee engagement will improve with one-on-one meetings because it allows managers and direct reports to discuss issues they would not otherwise discuss during office hours. Direct reports feedback on the company, career progress, and current projects can help identify and rectify pressing issues. A study by Gallup backs up this point showing employees who have regular one-on-one meetings are three times more engaged and 21% more productive.
One goal of a one-on-one meeting is to understand your direct reports. It is getting to know them beyond the four walls of the office space or, in recent times, your laptop screens. Engaging with your direct reports as people and not employees helps improve your working relationship, which can help in raising teamwork. One-on-one meetings can also help to diffuse friction between colleagues by the manager becoming a mediator.
Reduces Staff Turnover
A study by salary.com shows that 23% of employees look for new jobs every day. Another research by Hogan assessment shows that 75% of employees state their direct boss is the worse part of their jobs. Holding one-on-one meetings can help reduce these figures, as one reason employees leave their workplace is due to lack of engagement.
One On One Questions to Ask Employees
When conducting a one-on-one employee meeting, the questions must explore the various areas of the direct report’s life. The questions you ask should cover their personal life, relationship with co-workers, career goals, the working environment, and feedback on management. Touching the various areas that affect your direct reports brings about an open meeting.
You can have a list of questions divided into separate sections to help you structure it. Also, while timing is essential, flexibility is much more effective because any question can become an issue that needs immediate attention.
This section will discuss the areas to ask questions and the type of questions you should ask your direct reports.
Personal Check-in Questions
Understanding the physical and mental health of your direct reports is crucial. Showing genuine concern and empathy can help break the ice and open up the floor for discussions. If this is the first one-on-one meeting, you can ask about their lives outside the workplace.
Questions about hobbies or what they find fun can help to ease tension. Who knows, both of you may enjoy similar activities.
If this is not your first meeting, you can ask follow-up questions from the previous conversation.
Questions to ask:
1. How are you feeling today?
2. What do you do over the weekend? / Do you have plans for this weekend?
3. How do you feel about your current work/life balance?
4. Do you have any hobbies you are passionate about?
Depending on the answers you receive to these questions, spend more or less time in this section. If the employee is not doing well mentally or physically, allocate more time to this section.
Career Goal and Progression Questions
A study by the Conference Board shows that only 57% of workers show job satisfaction, and for a typical worker who dedicates hours to their job, it’s a low figure. One good way to improve this figure is by understanding your direct reports’ career goals. Asking the right questions will allow you to help with advice, point them to books or other materials they need, and assist them in reaching their goals.
Many companies have lost excellent employees due to not understanding how their goals align with employees. Identifying the career goals of your direct reports can also help you assign projects they are interested in working on or projects that will help them develop their skill set.
Sample 1 on 1 career goals and progression questions to ask include:
5. What are your career goals? Have you put much thought into your career goals?
6. What can I do to help you achieve them?
7. What do you enjoy most about your work?
8. What skills do you think you need to develop? Do you feel you need more training?
9. Do you feel your current job role contributes to achieving your career goal?
10. Do you feel you can achieve your career goal with this company?
These one-on-one employee meeting questions will help you and your direct report clear the air regarding their career goals and progression. Their answers will highlight what you can do to help them progress in their career.
Workplace Environment and Condition
The workplace environment is vital in ensuring the success of a company. Employees are a significant source of feedback since they spend most of their time working and interacting in the office environment. A poor office environment can impede productivity, so it’s best to have feedback by asking one-on-one questions from your direct reports. Chances are you would receive a few.
Sample one on one workplace environment and condition questions to ask:
11. Are you happy with the current working environment?
12. What changes would you make to the current work environment?
13. Do you feel you can be more productive if we make changes to the work environment?
In a study by Gallup, managers determine how great or lousy a workplace turns out. The study states managers have a variance of 70%, suggesting they are vital in dictating the company culture. A positive atmosphere helps to foster teamwork and healthy work relationships. When managers promote a healthy culture, it improves employee retention and productivity.
One good way to determine if managers lead by example is by asking questions in one-on-one meetings with employees.
Sample 1 on 1 company culture and relationships questions to ask:
15. Is there any aspect of the company work culture you would want to change?
16. Do you feel the team works well together?
17. Is there anyone in the team you notably work well with? Why is this?
18. Is there anyone in the team you dislike working with? Why is this?
Managers Feedback
Managers need feedback from their direct reports. According to Gallup, managers provided with strength feedback showed a 12.5% increase in productivity and a 14.9% increase in turnover rates compared to those who didn’t receive such feedback. In short, managers also need feedback to improve, and a one-on-one meeting presents an opportunity for the managers.
Sample 1 on 1 managers feedback questions you can ask:
19. Do you feel I give enough feedback?
20. What can I do to support you better?
The aim is to make sure the employee is comfortable with your management style and get feedback on what you should do more or less. In this section, take the words of your direct reports in friendly spirit. If they are giving constructive criticism or observations they have made, it’s because they also want to see you grow. They could easily have kept quiet, spoken behind your back, or given a written complaint to HR.
Bonus 1 on 1 Questions
Managers and employees are busy individuals, and therefore they need to make every moment in the workplace count. On average, managers spend 23 hours in meetings during the week. That’s a lot of time spent in meetings, and because of this, it’s best to ask your direct reports about the effectiveness of your one-on-one sessions.
Do you feel these meetings are a good use of your time?
How as these one-on-one meetings helped you?
What do you think I should change about my approach?
Conclusion
Asking the right one on one questions in meetings with your direct reports is essential in getting the best from these meetings. The success of the one-on-one sessions is dictated by how well you can break the ice and have simple conversations, leading to more complex ones. As you question your direct reports, remember the aim is to understand your employees better, to provide adequate support.
Want to know how Engagedly can help you mange your remote employees better? Request us for a demo.
Teams that score higher in engagement are much more productive, creative, and innovative than their counterparts. Building great teams can be a bit tricky as the current work environments do not allow to gauge the non-verbal cues to understand the team members. It is therefore important to focus on team building activities that bring people closer and help them understand each other. While there are a bunch of activities that help in boosting motivation, productivity, and learning, it is crucial to involve the team in fun and creative activities too.
This article will discuss four creative team building activities that will help your team members come out of the silos and unite to bring more fun to the table.
Creative Team Building Activities
Here are four unique and creative team building activities for your employees that are fun guaranteed.
Team Building Activity 1- Two Truths And A Lie
This is one of the most engaging team-building activities for employees.
Recommended number of People: 10 to 15
Material required: None
Goal: To guess the true statement from other players’ set of statements and to make other players believe your false statements to be true.
How to play:
Step 1: Every player writes down three statements about himself (2 truths and one lie)
Step 2: Each player is asked to read those statements aloud to the group.
Step 3: Take a vote on which statement is a lie.
Step 4: The players who guess the false statement correctly get one point each. If no one is able to guess it correctly, then the player who wrote the statements wins the points.
Step 5: Continue steps (1 – 4) and the player with most points wins the game.
Team Building Activity 2- Back-to-back Drawing
Recommended number of players: Multiple teams of 2 people
Material required: Paper, pen and picture cards
Goal: To instruct your teammate verbally and help them draw the shape.
How to play:
Step 1: Divide your group into pairs, and have each pair sit on the floor back to back.
Step 2: Give one player from the pair a picture and the other, a pen and paper.
Step 3: The player who receives the picture, verbally explains the picture to his teammate and the teammate tries to draw the picture on the paper.
Step 4: On finishing, each pair compares their original shape to the drawing, and consider how they worked together, and where they could improve their communication.
Also Read: 5 Employee Engagement Activities On Budget
Team Building Activity 3- Acted Charades (Dumb Charades)
Another common, yet engaging team building activity for your employees
Note – The Engagedly team tried this out. It was a roaring success. 😉
Recommended number of players: 10-15 (two teams)
Material required: None
Goal: Convey the movie name given by the opposite team to your teammates by enacting and guessing the movie name correct when your teammate enacts.
How to play:
Step 1: A player from one team is chosen by the other team and given a movie name.
Step 2: The player enacts the movie name and tries to convey it to his teammates without talking or pointing out to any objects.
Step 3: If the team succeeds to find the movie name they win a point, if not the opposite team wins a point.
Step 4: Continue steps ( 1-3) The team with most points wins the game.
Team Building Activity 4- Winner/ Loser
Recommended number of players: Multiple teams of 2 players each
Material required: None
Goal: To change the negative perspective of your teammate to positive perspective
How to play:
Step 1: Both teammates write their bad experiences and share it with each other.
Step 2: Both partners, then tell the same story of their teammates, but relate the good things that came from the experience.
Just give these team-building activities a try. The goal is not to win, but rather to have fun and build team spirit!
Conclusion
Team building is critically important for organizations that are working in hybrid and remote working environments. As most employees are fixated to their systems throughout the day, it is important for them to be involved in activities that help them bring out their creative sides. The creative team building activities discussed in this article will surely help your team members have a great time. Share the activities that you enjoy the most with your teams in the comments sections below.
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“To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace!” —Doug Conant, Founder, Constant Leadership.
As a manager, it is your responsibility to lead your team effectively. The way you conduct yourself before them, affects their productivity significantly. There are many challenging issues that you have to deal with as a manger. One of such issues is not being able to improve team engagement at work.
In today’s world, there is not much option when it comes to where people want to work from. If you wish to be safe, you have got to stay in and work from home. On the brighter side, technology has evolved to such an extent that you don’t feel the necessity to be present in an office space to be able to accomplish all the tasks that is in your kitty. Of course, there will be exceptions. But what about setting remote workforce goals?
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OKRs are one of the best methods of measuring 
Planned-to-done ratio measures the number of tasks delivered by team members against the planned activities. 
Image Source: McKinsey.com
